


Promises of Forever

by IAmTheBadWolf1990



Series: Promises [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Canon Rewrite, F/M, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Season/Series 03, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-25
Updated: 2016-12-05
Packaged: 2018-06-04 10:13:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 40
Words: 140,696
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6653812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAmTheBadWolf1990/pseuds/IAmTheBadWolf1990
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rose didn't get stuck in the parallel world and can now keep her promise of travelling with the Doctor for as long as she can. But just how long is her forever?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Goodbyes

**Author's Note:**

> Just your standard Series Three re-write with Rose. This is basically just an exercise for me to improve my writing skills so constructive criticism is most welcome.  
> I do hope to cover all the seasons eventually but it will take a while and there is no guarantee I will finish it.  
> This fic covers from the end of Doomsday to Voyage of the Damned.

Rose was screaming. Because what else do you do when you are literally being pulled into hell? The Doctor was screaming too. She could hear him even over her own screams and the howling noise of the void. 

It felt like she had been falling forever. She almost wished for the void to take her just to end the terrifying sensation. Almost. She began twirling in the air as she neared the open void. _Any second now,_ she thought.

_Systems offline._

With a painful thump, Rose hit the white wall just seconds after the void had collapsed in on itself and she fell limply to the floor. She vaguely registered the feel of cool hands on her cheeks and the sound of somebody calling her name before she let the darkness take her.

\----

When Rose opened her eyes, the first thing she realised was that she was in the TARDIS. The med-bay by the looks of it. She tried to sit up but the pain in her back decided that that was the moment it would make itself known so she flopped back down with a groan.

‘Easy,’ said a voice from beside her. She looked to her left and saw the Doctor sitting in a chair beside her bed. He looked liked he had been there for days. His suit was creased and his tie had disappeared altogether. His usually gravity-defying hair lay flat on his head.

‘Hello,’ she said, trying her best to give him a reassuring smile. She suspected that it came out as more of a grimace. The Doctor smiled back regardless. He looked relieved but Rose could still see the worry in his eyes. 

‘How are you feeling?’ he asked.

‘My back hurts.’

‘I’ll give you some more anaesthetic,’ he said, getting up out of the chair. He walked over to a cupboard and pulled out some gadgets that Rose couldn’t name even if she wasn’t in mind-numbing pain.

He walked back over to her and held up a small cylindrical device. It looked like a syringe but instead of a needle, the end looked more like the tip of the sonic screwdriver.

‘This won’t hurt a bit,’ he said, gently taking her hand and straightening her arm out. He held the device to the inside of her arm and pressed a button. The effect was almost immediate and within a few seconds, Rose felt herself drifting back out of consciousness.

\----

The next time Rose woke up, the Doctor wasn’t there. The pain in her back seemed to have disappeared as well so she risked trying to sit up again. It was slow going but she made it without incident. 

Feeling brave and maybe just a little bit overconfident, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and pushed herself into a standing position. After a couple of moments with nothing more than a slight sense of vertigo, she took a few steps towards the door.

Rose had made it precisely five steps before the Doctor appeared at the door. He stopped suddenly at the sight of her and dropped whatever he was holding. He didn’t seem to notice the glass smashing into a thousand pieces at his feet.

‘What are you doing?’ he asked, rushing forwards and gently guiding her back to the bed.

‘It doesn’t hurt no more,’ said Rose. ‘I’m fine, honest.’

‘Rose, you slammed into a brick wall and have spent the last three days in a coma, you are not fine.’

Not in the mood to argue further, Rose let the Doctor help her back into bed.

‘I was out for three days?’ she asked. The Doctor nodded. ‘What did I miss?’

‘Haven’t the foggiest. Been in the vortex the whole time. Well, almost the whole time. I did…’ He trailed off, turning his head to look at the item he had dropped earlier. He walked across the room and picked up a photo from the broken glass. ‘I went back to your flat and picked up a few things,’ he said moving back to the chair and handing her the photo. ‘Stuff I thought you’d might like to keep.’

The photo was of her and her mum, each with a cocktail glass in hand. It was taken on her 18th birthday. The reality of the situation hit Rose like a tidal wave. She was never going to see her mum again.

‘Th- Thanks,’ she said, trying not to break down in front of him. She failed. Her whole body started to shake and the Doctor took the picture out of her hand. The bed creaked as he lay down next to her and pulled her to his chest. She instantly rolled over closer to him, burying her face in his chest. He wrapped his arms around her without a hint of hesitation. 

Her tears were flowing in earnest now. She was probably soaking his shirt but she couldn’t find it in her to care.

‘I’m so sorry, Rose,’ he said.

Those four words were enough to halt her downwards spiral. She looked up at him through teary eyes.

‘It’s not your fault,’ she said. ‘I made my choice Doctor, and it’s you. I’m going to miss Mum so much but I know she’s happy. She gets to spend the rest of her life with the man she loves. I just wish… I just wish I could have said a proper goodbye. I just sort of left her without a single word.’

‘I may be able to help with that.'

\----

‘So I just have to think about Mum, yeah?’ 

Rose was standing in the middle of the console room watching the Doctor dashing from one control to the next. She had been out of her coma for two days now and was feeling surprisingly pain-free.

‘Yep. Just concentrate,’ said the Doctor. ‘ _Really_ concentrate. She should get the message and it will lead her to the gap between the universes.’

‘Are you sure we’re safe? Orbiting a supernova doesn’t sound very safe.’

‘We’re perfectly safe. Even if the TARDIS wasn’t virtually indestructible, we’ve got the extrapolator hooked up to give us that extra bit of protection.’

‘Okay. I’m ready,’ said Rose, closing her eyes and focussing all her energy on thinking of her mum.

‘Allons-y!’ shouted the Doctor as he flicked a switch.

Two minutes later Jackie’s image appeared in the middle of the room.

‘Rose!’ she cried.

‘Hi Mum,’ replied Rose. She actually did it! She couldn’t believe it.

‘Where are you?’

‘Inside the TARDIS. The Doctor found a tiny little gap left between the universes. It’s just about to close. But it takes a lot of power to do this. We’re orbiting a supernova. He’s burning up a sun just so I can say goodbye.’

‘You look like a ghost.’

Rose turned to face the Doctor. ‘Can we do something about that?’ she asked.

‘Hold on.’ The Doctor got out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the TARDIS screen. Jackie’s image lost its transparency. No more ghosts.

‘That’s better,’ said Jackie, walking closer to her daughter. She held up her arms as if to go in for a hug. ‘Can I?’

‘I’m still just an image, Mum. No touch.’

‘Well, that’s no good. Can’t himself get you through properly.’

‘The walls would fracture,’ said the Doctor. ‘Two universe would collapse.’

‘So?’

Rose smiled. She was going to miss her Mum’s defiant spark.

‘Mum, we can’t,’ she said.

‘I know,’ said Jackie sadly. ‘It’s a tempting thought, though.’

‘Where are we? Where did the gap come out?’

‘Bloody Norway! We’ve been driving for days!’

Rose laughed. ‘Sorry,’ she said.

‘The beach is called Dårlig Ulv-Stranden.’

‘Dalek?’ asked Rose and the Doctor simultaneously.

‘Dårlig. Norwegian for “bad”, apparently. You’ll never believe it but this place translates to “Bad Wolf Bay”.’

Rose and the Doctor shared a suspicious glance. There was no way that that was a coincidence.

‘So how long have we got?’ asked Jackie.

‘Only a couple of minutes,’ said Rose.

‘Right, well we’d better make the most of it, then.’

Rose chuckled. ‘Yeah, I suppose so. You still with Dad, then?’

‘Oh, there’s four of us now. Me, Pete, Mickey… and the baby.’

Rose’s eyes widened with shock. ‘Mum, you’re not?’

Jackie laughed and nodded. ‘I am. Three months gone.’

Jackie looked so happy, Rose wished she could hug her in congratulations but words would have to do.

‘Congratulations, Mum,’ she said. ‘I mean it. I know you’ll look after that baby so well because you did it with me. I know I wasn’t always grateful but you were always there for me and I just want you to know that I love you and I’m sorry for everything I put you through.’ Rose voice cracked on the last bit. She could feel the tears forming in her eyes.

‘Oh, Sweetheart. I love you too and I am so proud of you. Just make sure that Doctor of yours looks after you otherwise I’ll find a way back myself, universes be damned.’

Rose laughed a little at that. She had no doubt that Jackie wasn’t exaggerating. 

‘Thanks, Mum. For everything.’

Whatever Jackie was going to say next, Rose would never know. Time had run out and her mother’s image disappeared. Rose wiped the tears away. She didn’t want to cry anymore. She had gotten to say goodbye properly and she was blessed with the knowledge that her Mum had a fantastic life ahead of her. Still, she couldn’t help wanting to be part of that life.

A hand rested on her shoulder and Rose turned to see the Doctor looking at her in concern.

‘You alright?’ he asked.

‘I will be,’ said Rose, giving him a reassuring smile.

A surprised gasp came from the other side of the room and the Doctor and Rose looked over to see a very confused looking redhead standing in the TARDIS. A very confused looking redhead in a _wedding dress_.

‘What?’’ said the Doctor in surprise.

“Who are you?’ asked the bride.

‘But…’

‘Where am I?’

‘What!’

‘What the bloody hell is this place?’

‘WHAT!”


	2. The Runaway Bride Part One

_‘WHAT!’_

A very angry woman had just appeared in the middle of the TARDIS console room and Rose was reasonably certain that that just shouldn’t be possible. Nevertheless, it happened so the question was: how?

‘You can’t do that. I wasn’t… we’re in flight,’ stammered the Doctor. ‘That is… that is physically impossible How did-’

‘Tell me where I am,’ demanded the bride, cutting him off. ‘I demand you tell me RIGHT NOW. Where am I?’

‘Inside the TARDIS,’ answered the Doctor.

‘The what?’

‘The TARDIS.’

‘The what?’

‘The TARDIS!’

‘The what!’ 

The bride was getting even more agitated and Rose decided that now was probably a good time to step in. ‘It’s called the TARDIS,’ she said gently. ‘This thing we’re in. It’s called the TARDIS.’

‘That’s not even a proper word,’ yelled the bride. ‘You’re just saying things.’

‘How did you get in here?’ asked the Doctor, a little bit of menace in his words.

‘Well, obviously when you kidnapped me,’ hissed the bride. ‘Who was it? Who’s paying you? Is it Nerys? Oh my God, she’s finally got me back. This has got Nerys written all over it.’

‘Who’s Nerys?’ asked Rose.

‘You’re best friend!’

It seemed that the Doctor had only just realised what the woman was wearing. ‘Hold on, wait a minute. What are you dressed like that for?’ Rose rolled her eyes. For a genius, sometimes he could be really thick.

‘I’m going ten pin bowling,’ said the bride. ‘Why do you think, DUMBO? I was half way down the aisle!’

The bride’s sarcasm was enough to make Rose inwardly chuckle a little but the frightened look on the Doctor’s face was what pushed her over the edge. She couldn’t help but let out a laugh. She abruptly stopped however when the bride’s glare focussed on her.

‘What are you laughing at, Blondie? I was just seconds away and then you and your boyfriend… I don’t know, drugged me or something.’

‘We haven’t done anything,’ insisted the Doctor, fiddling with the TARDIS controls.

‘We’ll have the police on you,’ continued the bride. ‘Me and my husband, once he is my husband, we’re gonna sue the living backside off ya!’

That’s when the bride noticed the doors and started running towards them. 

‘No, wait!’ shouted Rose, running to stop her but it was too late. The bride opened the doors and stopped short at the sight in front of her. The TARDIS was still orbiting the supernova. Rose thought it looked beautiful but she doubted the other woman cared much at the moment.

Rose stood beside the bride at the doorway, the Doctor joining them a moment later.

‘You’re in space,’ explained Rose. ‘We’re in a spaceship.’

‘ _My_ spaceship,’ corrected the Doctor. ‘It’s called the TARDIS.’

‘How am I breathing?’

‘The TARDIS is protecting us.’

'Who are you?’ asked the bride, less angry now and slightly fearful.

‘I’m the Doctor and this is Rose.’ Rose waved a little in hello. ‘You?’

‘Donna.’

‘Nice to meet you, Donna,’ said Rose.

‘Human?’ asked the Doctor.

‘Yeah. Is that optional?’

‘Well, it is for me.’

Donna looked at him quizzically for a second before turning back to face the supernova. ‘You’re an alien.’

‘Yeah.’

‘And what about you, Blondie? Are you from Mars too?’

‘I’m not from Mars,’ interjected the Doctor but the two women ignored him.

‘I’m human,’ said Rose. ‘From London, actually.’

The three of them stared out into space in silence for a minute before Donna had had enough. ‘It’s freezing with these doors open,’ she said.

The Doctor closed the doors and ran back to the console. ‘I don’t understand this,’ he said, ‘and I understand everything. This can’t happen! There is no way a human being can lock itself onto the TARDIS and transport itself inside.’ 

He leant down and pulled out some sort of instrument and held it up to Donna’s face, peering through it and babbling a load of scientific terms. Rose didn’t know what they all meant but she did know that the Doctor was being rude and that Donna was getting angry again. She looked like she was just about at the end of her –

_-smack-_

Scratch that. She _was_ at the end of her rope.

‘Ow!’ cried the Doctor. ‘What was that for?’

‘GET ME TO THE CHURCH!’

‘Right. Fine. We don’t want you here anyway, do we Rose?’

‘Being rude,’ warned Rose.

‘She hit me!’

‘Who can blame her? What with you shoving that thing in her face.’

‘Oi!’ interrupted Donna. ‘If you two are finished with your lover’s tiff…’

‘We’re not-’

‘Maybe you could take me back to the church so I can finish getting married!’

‘Where’s the church?’ asked Rose.

‘Saint Mary’s, Hayden Road, Chiswick, London, England, Earth, the Solar System.’

The Doctor set the coordinates and pulled down a lever, sending them on their way to Saint Mary’s.

\----

The Doctor, Donna and Rose exited the TARDIS and stepped out into an alley.

‘Funny looking Church,’ said Rose.

‘I said Saint Mary’s,’ said Donna. ‘What sort of Martian are you?’

‘He’s not a Martian,’ said Rose but she was ignored.

‘Where is this?’

The Doctor wasn’t listening to either of them. He was looking at the TARDIS, a worried look on his face.

‘What’s wrong?’ asked Rose. ‘Is she alright?’

‘I don’t know…. It’s like she’s recalibrating.’ He rushed inside the TARDIS. ‘Digesting. What have you eaten? What’s wrong?’ 

‘Is it Donna?’ asked Rose. ‘I mean, humans aren’t supposed to just appear like that, could she have affected the TARDIS in any way?’

He started yelling through the open doorway to Donna. ‘Had any alien contact recently? I can’t let you go wandering off, you could be dangerous. Have you seen any lights in the sky, or did you touch something, something strange or… Who are you getting married to? Are you sure he’s human? He’s not a bit overweight with a zip on his forehead?’

‘Doctor…’ said Rose to get his attention. ‘I think Donna has just had her “it’s bigger on the inside” moment.’ Donna was circling the wooden box, looking more distraught by the second. ‘I think we have a runner.’

Sure enough, with one last scared look at the TARDIS, the bride turned on her heel and bolted.

‘Donna! Wait!’ yelled the Doctor as they chased after her.

It didn’t take long to catch up to the bride. ‘Just leave me alone,’ she said. ‘I just want to get married.’

‘Just come back inside,’ said Rose gently.

‘No way! That box is way too weird.’

‘It’s just bigger on the inside, that’s all,’ said the Doctor.

‘Oh. That’s all?’ said Donna, her sarcasm making another appearance. She looked down at her watch. ‘Ten past three. I’m gonna miss it.’

‘Can’t you phone them?’ asked the Doctor. ‘Tell them where you are?

‘How do I do that?’

‘Haven’t you got a mobile?’

‘I’m in my wedding dress. It doesn’t have pockets. Who has pockets? Have you ever seen a bride with pockets? When I went for my fitting at Chez Alison, the one thing I forgot to say was give me pockets!’

‘No pockets,’ said Rose, slightly teasing.

‘This man you’re marrying, what’s his name?’ asked the Doctor.

Donna’s anger faded away instantly, replaced by a softer expression. ‘Lance,’ she said, dreamily. It was sweet, thought Rose, to see someone so in love.

‘Good luck, Lance.’

‘Oi!’

‘Rude!’

‘No stupid Martian is going to stop me from getting married,’ said Donna. ‘To hell with the both of ya.’ And with that she ran off towards the street.

Rose ran after her. She could hear the Doctor once again insisting that he wasn’t from Mars before he too followed.

\----

‘Taxi!’ yelled Donna. She was still on the side of the road when the Doctor and Rose caught up. ‘Taxi!’ She wasn’t having much luck. ‘Why is his light on?’ she asked as yet another one drove by.

‘There’s another one,’ said Rose pointing down the street. The three of them ran after it.

Three taxis and a lot of embarrassing moves by the Doctor later, they still hadn’t found a ride.

‘Why aren’t they stopping?’ asked the Doctor.

‘They think I’m in fancy dress,’ said Donna.

They turned at the sound of a man yelling as he drove by. ‘Stay off the sauce, darling!’

‘They think I’m drunk.’

‘You’re fooling no one, mate!’ yelled a couple of young men from another car.

‘They think I’m in drag.’

The Doctor looked Donna over, obviously trying to judge for himself. Rose gave him a light slap on the arm. ‘Stop that.’

‘What? Oh sorry.’

‘I’ll get us a taxi,’ said Rose. She pulled her fingers up to her lips and let out a loud whistle. Donna covered her ears at the sound but it worked. A taxi pulled over in front of them and the three of them got into the backseat, Donna giving the driver the address.

‘It’s an emergency, I’m getting married,’ she said.

‘It will cost you, sweetheart,’ said the driver. ‘Double rates today.’

‘Oh my God. Have you got any money?’ asked Donna. 

Rose searched her pockets but only found 50p. ‘Sorry,’ she said.

‘Haven’t you got any?’ asked the Doctor and Rose was once again blown away by how idiotic he could be.

‘Pockets!’ yelled Donna in way of an answer.

‘That would be a no, then?’

The cab driver slammed his foot on the brakes, pulled up to the kerb, and told them that in no uncertain terms would they be riding in his cab without paying. Wedding or no wedding. Rose was not surprised by Donna’s anger. The amount of colourful language was a bit of a shock though.

‘And that goes double for your mother!’ shouted Donna as the cabbie drove off to find some actual paying customers. ‘I’ll have him. I got his number, I’ll have him. Talk about the Christmas spirit.’

Rose looked around her and noticed all the decorations. How had she missed that it was Christmas? Who the hell got married at Christmas?

The Doctor obviously hadn’t noticed either judging by his bewildered look. ‘Is it Christmas?’ he asked.

‘Well, duh!’ said Donna. ‘Maybe not on Mars-‘

‘Not from Mars,’ interrupted Rose.

‘-but here it’s Christmas Eve.’

‘How come you’re getting married on Christmas Eve?’

‘Can’t bear it. I hate Christmas. Honeymoon, Morocco. Sunshine, lovely.’ 

Rose smiled at the thought. A nice sunny beach sounded perfect. Her smile faded. Maybe not a beach. She fished out her mobile from her pocket and handed it to Donna. ‘Call them,’ she said.

Donna looked at her in shock. ‘You’ve had a phone on you THE ENTIRE TIME? Why didn’t you say something?’

Rose shrugged. ‘Not thinking straight, I guess. Been a rough couple of days.’

Donna glared at her but didn’t push the issue. She muttered her thanks and walked down the road to find a quieter spot to call her family.

‘You alright?’ asked the Doctor once Donna was out of earshot.

‘I’m fine,’ said Rose. ‘Like I said, it’s been a rough couple of days.’

‘Maybe you should go back to the TARDIS. Sit this one out.’

Rose’s head whipped around to face him. ‘You’re kidding, right?’

‘Rose, two days ago you were in a coma. You just said goodbye to your mother. Maybe now is not the best time for an adventure.’

‘Or maybe it’s the perfect time. If I go back to the TARDIS I’ll have nothing to do except sit there and dwell on what ifs and what might have beens. I’d much rather be out here, helping people.’ The Doctor looked like he was going to protest further so she raised a finger to his lips to shush him. ‘Please, Doctor. Just let me pretend that nothing has changed. Just for a little bit.’

Slowly, the Doctor nodded and Rose lowered her finger. A familiar sound caught her attention. Music. Not that odd with all the Christmas festivities and everything but it reminded her of something…

She turned around and saw three Santa’s playing musical instruments. Pilot fish.

‘Doctor…’

‘I see them.’

‘Taxi!’

They both turned around at the sound of Donna’s shout. A taxi pulled up beside her. Where did she get the money?

‘Thanks for nothing, Spaceman!’ she yelled over to them. ‘I’ll see you in court!’ And with that she got into the taxi. The taxi that was being driven by a Robot Santa.

‘DONNA!’ yelled the Doctor but it was too late, she was gone.

\----

Rose couldn’t believe they were doing this. The TARDIS was flying. Not drifting in space, not disappearing here and reappearing there, but actual proper _flying_. And it weren’t half rough. She struggled to hold the leaver steady as the TARDIS lurched violently… again.

The Doctor was at the door yelling at Donna to jump. They had caught up to her taxi and were currently flying down the motorway beside it.

‘I’m in my wedding dress!’ Rose heard the bride shout.

‘Yes, you look lovely,’ said the Doctor. ‘Now come on!’

There were a few seconds of silence before she heard Donna’s voice. She didn’t sound angry anymore, just scared.

‘I can’t do it.’

‘Trust me,’ insisted the Doctor.

When Donna didn’t answer, Rose yelled over her shoulder. ‘Donna, you’ve got to trust him. I do. With my life. And he’s never let me down so JUMP!’

Rose heard Donna’s screams as she jumped out of the taxi and into the Doctor’s arms, knocking them both to the floor.

‘Rose, let go of that lever,’ he said and she gave a sigh of relief as she let the annoying thing go.

The TARDIS doors shut and the spaceship flew upwards before the Doctor took over the controls and dematerialised them.

Rose walked over to help Donna up off the floor.

‘Thanks’

‘You okay?’

‘Yeah.’ She didn’t sound very convincing. ‘I’d better give you this back.’ Donna handed Rose her mobile phone. ‘I meant to give it back before but I just…’

‘It’s okay,’ said Rose. ‘I understand.’ 

She wasn’t entirely sure why, but she liked Donna. Maybe it was because of her fiery spark which reminded Rose of Jackie. Or maybe it was just because she believed that underneath all that anger and sarcasm, there was a kind, decent person.

Suddenly the room started filling up with smoke and an alarm started ringing. The Doctor was yelling something but Rose couldn’t hear him over the alarm. She did however hear the familiar wheezing sound of the TARDIS landing.

‘Everybody out!’ shouted the Doctor, ushering them out the door.

They exited the TARDIS, the Doctor with a fire extinguisher in hand, and stepped out onto the roof of a London skyscraper.

‘Funny thing is, for a spaceship, she doesn’t do that much flying,’ said the Doctor once he had put out the fire in the console room. ‘We’d better give her a little while. You alright?’

‘Doesn’t matter,’ said Donna shrugging.

‘Did we miss it?’ asked Rose.

‘Yeah.’

Rose put a hand on the bride’s shoulder. ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Well, you could book another date,’ said the Doctor, sympathetically.

‘Of course we can.’

‘Still got the honeymoon.’

‘It’s just a holiday now.’

Neither Rose nor the Doctor seemed to know what to say to that. After the awkward silence had reached its peak, Donna sat down on the ledge of the building and shivered at the cold. The Doctor took off his coat and laid it over her shoulders before sitting down next to her. Rose sat down on the other side.

Donna tried to pull the coat more tightly around her but didn’t get very far. ‘God, you’re skinny. This wouldn’t fit a rat.’ There was another awkward pause before Donna continued. ‘Wish we had a time machine. Then we could go back and get it right.’

The Doctor and Rose looked at each other over Donna’s head. ‘Yeah… yeah… But even if we did we wouldn’t be able to go back on someone’s personal timeline,’ said the Doctor.

‘Apparently,’ added Rose. Donna gave them an odd look.

‘Oh, and you’d better put this on,’ said the Doctor, getting an honest-to-god wedding ring out of his pocket.

‘Oh do you have to rub it in?’

‘Doctor!’

‘What?’ he asked. ‘It’s a bio-damper. Look.’ He held it up as if he expected them to see something other than a wedding ring. ‘It will hide Donna from whatever is after her.’

Donna looked uncertainly at Rose, her gaze travelling towards her hands, probably noticing the distinct lack of rings.

‘Are you sure?’ she asked.

‘Of course I’m sure,’ said the Doctor, thinking the question was directed at him.

‘If the Doctor says it will keep you safe, then it will keep you safe,’ said Rose.

Donna nodded and held out her hand to the Doctor. He slid the ri- the _bio-damper_ onto Donna’s finger. ‘With this ring, I thee bio-damp,’ he said.

‘For better or for worse.’

Rose couldn’t help the spark of jealousy that ignited within her. She had never really thought about getting married and settling down but seeing the Doctor put a wedding ring on somebody else’s finger rattled her. She knew why, of course. She loved him. She had long ago accepted that fact just as she had accepted that he would never love her back. Every now and then she got glimmers of hope that he returned her feelings (a quick glance here, a longer than usual hug there) but they were always short lived. But she was fine with that… really… she was fine.

‘So, come on then. Robot Santas what are they for?’ asked Donna, bringing Rose out of her thoughts.

‘Pilot fish,’ said Rose, happy for the distraction.

‘Huh?’

‘Just your basic robot scavengers,’ explained the Doctor. ‘All the Father Christmas stuff is just a disguise. They’re trying to blend in. We met them last Christmas.’

‘Why? What happened then?’

The Doctor and Rose looked at her quizzically. ‘Big spaceship hovering over London,’ said the Doctor.

‘All those people lining up on roofs,’ added Rose. 

‘You didn’t notice?’

‘I had a bit of a hangover,’ explained Donna.

Rose let out a chuckle at the Doctor’s bewildered expression before looking out towards the London skyline. A move that she instantly regretted. Her eyes instinctively focussed on where she knew the Powell Estate stood.

‘We spent Christmas over there,’ she said, not being able to stop herself. ‘The Powell Estate, that’s where I lived with...’ She fell silent. The memories of having Christmas dinner with her Mum and Mickey threatened to bring her to tears but she kept it in. She had told herself that she was done crying.

‘Family,’ said the Doctor, carrying on her sentence for her. She gave him a grateful smile. ‘Rose and I, we had this family.’

‘Had?’

‘They’re gone,’ said Rose.

‘Sorry,’ said Donna.

‘Thanks.’

There was another minute silence before the Doctor brought them back to the matter at hand. ‘Question is, what do camouflaged robot mercenaries want with you? And how did you get inside the TARDIS? I don’t know… What’s your job?’ He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his sonic screwdriver.

‘I’m a secretary,’ said Donna, as the Doctor adjusted the settings on the sonic and started scanning her with it.

‘It’s weird. I mean, you’re not special, you’re not powerful, you’re not connected, you’re not clever…’

‘Doctor!’ interrupted Rose, glaring at him.

‘Rose, do you ever get the urge to just punch him in the face?’ asked Donna before focussing her anger at the Doctor. ‘Stop bleeping me!’

He seemed to realise his mistake because he instantly turned off the screwdriver and lowered his hand. ‘Sorry,’ he said.

There was yet another awkward pause before he began speaking again. ‘What kind of secretary?’ he asked.

‘I’m at H.C. Clements. It’s where I met Lance. I was temping.’

Donna recounted her office romance with a doe-eyed expression. It seemed they had only known each other for six months and they were already getting married. Rose didn’t know an awful lot about relationships but she knew that that was a bit quick. But judging by the look in Donna’s eyes, she was head over heels for this Lance bloke. She glanced at the Doctor who was listening to Donna’s tale with interest. When you know, you know, she thought.

‘What does H.C. Clements do?’ asked the Doctor.

‘Oh, security systems, you know. Entry codes, ID cards, that sort of thing.’

‘Keys?’ asked Rose.

‘Pretty much. Posh name for locksmiths, if you ask me. Anyway, enough of my CV. Come on, it’s time to face the consequences. Oh, this is going to be so shaming. You can do the explaining, Martian Boy.’

‘Yeah, I’m not from Mars,’ said the Doctor for what must have been the fourth time in as many hours. Donna, for the fourth time in as many hours, didn’t listen.

The Doctor got up and held his hand out to Donna. Once she was on her feet, he held his hand out for Rose as well but she was already up. He looked a little disappointed but before Rose could ponder on this, Donna had started talking again.

‘Oh, I had this great big reception all planned,’ she said. ‘Everyone’s going to be heartbroken.’

\----

Heartbroken was not the word that Rose would have used to describe the atmosphere at the reception. _Merry Xmas, Everybody_ was playing loudly over the speakers and everyone was dancing and laughing as if the wedding had gone off without a hitch. Rose took an instant dislike to everybody in the room.

Donna stood in the middle of the room with folded arms as slowly, one by one, everybody noticed that she was there. The music abruptly switched off and the room went silent.

‘You had the reception without me,’ she said in disbelief.

‘Donna, what happened to ya?’ asked a dark-skinned man.

‘You had the reception without me,’ repeated Donna.

When no one said anything, the Doctor leaned forwards, all smiles. ‘Hello. I’m the Doctor and this is Rose.’

Donna turned to look at them, disbelief still written all over her face. ‘They had the reception with me!’

‘We noticed,’ said Rose bitterly. She was trying to make sure her glare reached everybody.

‘Well, it was all payed for. Why not?’ asked the blonde who was dancing with the dark-skinned man.

‘Thank you, Nerys!’

Oh, so that was Nerys.

‘Well what were we supposed to do?’ said an older woman, coming forward. ‘I got you’re silly little message in the end. “I’m on Earth” very funny.’

Everybody took that as their signal to start asking all their questions at once. It was impossible to tell who was asking what. Suddenly a sob echoed through the room and everybody fell silent as Donna began to cry. The dark-skinned man from before rushed forwards and embraced her (Lance, obviously) and everybody started clapping at the couple. Donna threw a wink over Lance’s shoulder at the Doctor and Rose.

‘Oh, she’s good,’ whispered Rose and the Doctor chuckled in agreement.

Someone turned the music back on and the party once more got under way. Rose and the Doctor made their way towards the bar.

‘Can I borrow your phone?’ he asked.

Rose handed it over and he held up his sonic screwdriver to it.

‘What you doing?’ she asked. 

‘Looking up H.C. Clements.’

The screen on the phone rapidly flicked through several different pages before settling on one.

_Sole proprietor: TORCHWOOD._

Rose glanced at the Doctor; there was a dark look in his eyes. He silently handed her phone back to her and they both turned to watch Donna dance with her would-be-husband.

‘She seems happy now,’ said Rose.

‘She does,’ agreed the Doctor. ‘What about you? Are you happy?’

Rose turned to face him. He had that concerned look on his face again. She really didn’t want his concern right now. She wanted to move on, to let go.

‘That depends,’ she said.

‘On what?’

‘On whether you are going to ask me to dance.’

She smiled up at him, poking her tongue out between her teeth.

For a moment, the Doctor just stared at her with an uncertain look on his face but he eventually rolled his eyes and sighed. 

‘Fine,’ he said dragging her out onto the dancefloor. ‘But just one.’

‘Whatever you say, Martian Boy.’

‘Oh, don’t you start!’

Three songs later, Rose noticed the video camera.

‘Do you think he got something?’ she asked.

‘One way to find out,’ said the Doctor, grabbing her hand and leading her off the dance floor and over to the cameraman.

‘Excuse me, but you happen to have the videoed the wedding as well?’ asked Rose.

‘Oh, I taped the whole thing,’ said the cameraman, getting a tape out of his bag and placing it in the camera. ‘They’ve all had a look. They said sell it to You’ve Been Framed. I said, more like the News.’

The Doctor and Rose watched the video play on the tiny screen. Donna was walking up the aisle, a smile on her face. She looked so happy. Her smile faltered and was replaced by a scream as she started to glow gold. Rose felt like she had seen the glow before but she couldn’t remember where.

‘Can’t be. Play it again,’ said the Doctor. 

The cameraman obliged. ‘Clever mind. Good trick, I’ll give her that. I was clapping.’

‘But that looks like... huon particles.’ 

‘What are they?’ asked Rose.

‘That’s impossible, that’s… ancient. Huon energy doesn’t exist anymore, not for billions of years. It’s so old….’ The Doctor trailed off, a worried look on his face. ‘So old that it can’t be hidden by a bio-damper.’ 

‘Donna,’ gasped Rose and she ran off to find the bride. The Doctor ran the other direction towards the window.

Rose found Donna dancing with Lance. ‘Donna, they can find you,’ she said urgently.

Donna stopped dancing and turned to face her. ‘But you said I was safe.’

The Doctor joined them. ‘They’re here,’ he said.

‘But you said I was safe!’ repeated the bride.

‘The bio-damper doesn’t work. We’ve got to get everyone out.’

‘Om my God, it’s all my family.’

‘Out the back door!’ The Doctor grabbed Donna’s hand and the three of them started running towards the exit, leaving a stunned Lance behind.

They ran out the back door only to come face to face with two Santas.

‘Maybe not this way,’ said Rose and they fled back inside. They went to a window and saw two more Santas coming towards them but they stopped a few feet away from the building.

‘Why have they stopped?’ asked Rose.

‘We’re trapped,’ said Donna.

One of the Santas held up what looked like a gaming controller and pressed a button. The Doctor looked behind them. ‘Christmas trees,’ he said and Rose turned and looked towards the corner of the room where an impressive looking tree stood.

‘What about them?’ asked Donna.

‘They kill.’

‘Get away from there,’ yelled Rose and she started running towards the tree. ‘Get away from the tree.' 

The three of them ushered the children away from the tree, yelling warnings as they went.

‘Oh for God’s sake,’ exclaimed Donna’s mother. ‘They’re a pair of idiots! What harm’s a Christmas tree gonna- oh!’

Rose followed the woman’s gaze and gasped as she saw the Christmas baubles float off the tree. It looked rather pretty but she knew that pretty things could also be deadly. Suddenly one of the decorations shot through the crowd and hit the far wall with an explosion. 

That’s when the screaming started. Everybody was panicking, trying to escape the exploding baubles. Donna and Rose found a table to take cover under. Donna spotted Lance running past and grabbed his arm to pull him down. Where was the Doctor?

‘Oi! Santa!’

There he was.

‘A word of advice. If you’re attacking a man with a sonic screwdriver…’ Rose peered over the table to see the Doctor holding a microphone. ‘Don’t let him near the sound system.’ He held the screwdriver to the sound system and Rose covered her ears as a screeching sound filled the room. The Santas started to shake violently and eventually collapsed into pieces.

Rose removed her hands from her ears and got up from her hiding place. She ran to the Doctor and gave him a quick celebratory hug.

‘That was brilliant,’ she said.

‘You think?’ he asked, grinning like an idiot.

He then ran to the Santas and Rose joined Donna in making sure everyone was okay.

‘Look at that,’ said the Doctor holding up the controller. ‘Remote control for the decorations but there’s a second control for the robots. They’re not scavengers anymore. I think someone’s taken possession.’

‘Never mind that,’ said Donna. ‘You’re a Doctor. People have been hurt.’

‘I’m not that sort of Doctor.’

‘They wanted you alive,’ said Rose, joining them. There wasn’t much she could do for the injured people apart from help them get into a more comfortable position.

‘She’s right,’ said the Doctor and he chucked a bauble to Donna. ‘Look, they’re not active now.’ He held up a Santa head to his ears, listening intently. ‘There’s still a signal!’

Rose followed the Doctor as he ran outside. Donna wasn’t far behind them.

‘There’s someone behind this, directing the roboforms,’ said the Doctor as he scanned the robot head with his screwdriver. 

‘But why me?’ asked Donna. ‘What have I done?’

The Doctor held the screwdriver to the sky. ‘It’s up there. Something in the sky.’

Slowly everybody started coming out of the building and ambulances started to arrive. Donna joined Lance in making sure everybody was getting out okay.

‘What do you think it is?’ asked Rose once her and the Doctor were alone.

‘No idea. But whatever it is, it can’t be good.’

The sonic screwdriver stopped making a noise.

‘No, no, no!’ shouted the Doctor giving it a whack with his palm. He ran over to Donna. Rose followed.

‘I’ve lost the signal. Donna we’ve got to get to your office. H.C. Clements. I think that’s where it all started.’ He turned to Donna’s fiancé. ‘Lance, is it Lance? Lance, can you give us a lift?’

The Doctor and Donna ran towards the car park, not giving Lance a chance to answer. Rose clapped him on the shoulder.

‘He does that to everyone,’ she said. ‘He can be rude sometimes but trust me, whatever is going on, he’ll find out.’ She walked after the Doctor and Donna. She missed the worried look that passed across Lance’s face before he started following.


	3. The Runaway Bride Part Two

The Doctor led his gang - no, that that didn’t seem like the right word. Group. Yes, group sounded better. He led his group across the offices of H.C. Clements. ‘To you lot, this might just be a locksmiths, but H.C. Clements was brought up by the Torchwood Institute,’ he explained. The name brought a bad taste to his mouth.

‘Who are they?’ asked Donna.

‘They were behind the Battle of Canary Wharf.’

Donna looked lost.

‘Cyberman invasion,’ he clarified for her but it didn't seem to help.

‘Daleks all in the sky over London,’ tried Rose.

‘I was in Spain,’ said Donna.

‘They had Cybermen in Spain.’

‘Scuba-diving.’

‘That big picture, Donna. You keep missing it,' said the Doctor. 'Torchwwod was destroyed but H.C. Clement stayed in business.’ He moved over to check another computer. ‘And I think someone else came in and took over the operation.’ He whacked the top of the screen with his fist to try and make it work faster. It didn’t help but it made him feel better at least.

‘But what do they want with me?’ asked Donna.

The Doctor straightened up. This one was going to be tricky to explain. ‘Somehow, you’ve been dosed with Huon energy. And that’s bad because Huon energy hasn’t existed since the dark times. The only place you’d find a Huon particle now is a remnant in the Heart of the TARDIS.’

‘That’s it,’ said Rose and the Doctor whirled around to face her. ‘Sorry, its just when I saw the video I was trying to think where I recognised the energy from. It must have been from when I absorbed the time vortex.’

‘You absorbed the what now?’ asked Lance.

‘It’s complicated.’

She was starting to remember being the Bad Wolf. The Doctor wasn’t sure if that terrified him or excited him. Terrified. Definitely terrified. What else was she going to remember of that time? He shook his head to clear it, he had to focus on the situation at hand.

He turned back to Donna. ‘See, what happened is…’ He looked around and saw a mug on the desk. He grabbed it and held it up to Donna. ‘Say that’s the TARDIS.’ He picked up a pencil. ‘And that’s you. The particles inside you activated and two sets of particles magnetised and whap.’ He put the pencil in the mug. ‘You were pulled inside the TARDIS.’

‘I’m a pencil inside a mug?’

‘Yes you are. 4H, sums you up. Lance, what was H.C. Clements working on? Any top secret operations? Do Not Enter? That sort of thing.’ Surely the man must know something.

‘How am I supposed to know?’

Then again, maybe not.

‘I’m only in charge of personnel. I wasn’t Project Manager,’ continued Lance. The Doctor lost interest and moved to another computer and started scanning it. ‘Why am I even explaining myself? What the hell are we talking about?’

‘They make keys, that’s the point,’ said the Doctor, oblivious to the Lance's anger. He had just brought up a 3D blueprint onto the screen and something was a miss. Aha! ‘And look at this…’

He led the group to the lift and opened to door. ‘We’re on the third floor. Underneath reception there’s a basement, yes? But if you look at the lift, there’s a button marked Lower Basement. There’s a whole floor that doesn’t exist on the official plan. So, what’s down there, then?'

‘Are you telling me this building has a secret floor?’ asked Lance.

‘No, he’s showing you this building has a secret floor,’ said Rose joining the Doctor in the lift. He smiled down at her and was rewarded by her tongue-touched smile that he loved so much.

‘It needs a key,’ said Donna.

He turned to face the bride and her almost-husband. ‘I don’t.’ He sonicked the lift controls and the Lower Basement light lit up. ‘Right then, thanks you two, Rose and I can handle this. See you later.’

‘No chance, Martian,’ said Donna getting in the lift. ‘You’re the one who keeps saving my life. I ain’t letting you out of my sight. Lance…’

‘Maybe I should go to the police.'

‘Inside. Now.’

Lance sighed and entered the now crowded lift.

‘To honour and obey,’ said the Doctor.

‘Tell me about it mate.’

‘Oi!’

Rose pressed the button and the lift doors closed. The Doctor tried not to think about how closely she was pressed up against him. Or how wonderful her hair smelled.

Sixty agonising seconds later, the lift stopped and they walked out into a depressing looking corridor. The walls were all bland concrete, dripping with water and lit in an eerie green.

‘Where are we?’ asked Donna. ‘What goes on down here?’

‘Only one way to find out,’ said Rose as she took the lead down the corridor.

‘Do you think Mister Clements knows about this place?’ 

‘The mysterious HC Clements? I think he's part of it,’ said the Doctor before he noticed something in the corner. Three Segways. ‘Oh, look. Transport.’ 

‘You've got to be kidding!’ exclaimed Lance.

‘Oh, come on, it’ll be fun,’ said Rose. She had that adventurous spark in her eyes again.

‘There’s only three,’ said Donna.

‘Rose and I can share,’ said the Doctor before he could stop himself. Rose climbed onto one of the machines and it was too late to take back the suggestion. The Doctor got on behind her and once again reminded himself of the boundaries that he had set up long ago. No matter how much he wanted otherwise, Rose and him could never be anything more than friends. And he kept telling himself that as they rode down the corridor, laughing at the sheer silliness of it all. Just two good friends laughing as friends do. 

It wasn’t long before the group came acroos a door marked _Torchwood. Authorised personnel only_. The Doctor got off of the Segway and walked over to it. He glared at the name on the door for a moment before turning the wheel to open it. The result was quite anti-climatic. It was just a ladder. But ladders could be interesting, depending on where they led.

The Doctor turned to face the rest of the group. ‘Wait here. Just need to get my bearings. Don't do anything.’

‘You'd better come back,’ said Donna. 

‘I couldn't get rid of you if I tried. Besides, I’m not leaving without Rose. You can keep her as collateral.’

‘Oi!’ shouted Rose but the Doctor could see the teasing gleam in her eye. The Doctor gave her a wink and then started to climb the ladder. He heard Lance ask Donna what they were going to do. Donna promptly answered with a change of date for the wedding, most likely not what Lance was talking about.

The Doctor reached a sealed cover operated by a wheel, like one you would find in a submarine. He opened it and climbed out onto the top of number 8 in the Thames Barrier. He quickly climbed back down to join the others 

‘Thames flood barrier right on top of us,’ he informed them. ‘Torchwood snuck in and built this place underneath.’ 

‘What, there's like a secret base hidden underneath a major London landmark?’ asked Donna. 

‘I know. Unheard of,’ deadpanned the Doctor, earning a giggle from Rose.

The group carried on down the corridor until they came across a very impressive laboratory. ‘Oh, look at this. Stunning!’ exclaimed the Doctor. 

‘What’s it for?’ asked Rose. 

‘Particle extrusion. Hold on.’ He ran to one of the big machines that were filled with water. ‘Brilliant. They've been manufacturing Huon particles. Course, my people got rid of Huons. They unravel the atomic structure.’ He missed the worried look on Donna’s face. 

‘Your people?’ asked Lance. ‘Who are they? What company do you represent?’ 

‘We’re just sort of freelancers,’ said Rose. 

‘They've been using the river,’ said the Doctor, carrying on his investigations. He was starting to enjoy this. ‘Extruding them through a flat hydrogen base so they've got the end result, Huon particles in liquid form.’ He held up a canister for the others to inspect. 

‘And that's what's inside me?’ asked Donna. 

The Doctor turned a knob on top of the container, and the liquid glowed gold. So did Donna. 

‘Oh, my God!’ 

‘Genius. Because the particles are inert, they need something living to catalyse inside and that's you.’

‘Doctor…’ 

Rose’s worried voice interrupted his train of thought and he turned to face her but stopped dead at what he saw. She was glowing! Just like Donna.

‘No, no, no,’ he said. 

‘You said that these particles were in the Heart of the TARDIS...’

‘Yes but I took that out of you.’

‘I guess you missed a bit.’

‘What’s wrong, Doctor?’ asked Donna, obviously seeing the worried look on his face. ‘These particles, are they dangerous? Are we safe?’ 

‘Yes,’ he lied but Donna wasn’t buying it. 

‘If your lot got rid of Huon particles, why did they do that?’

There was no use denying it. ‘Because they were deadly.’ 

‘Oh, my God.’

The Doctor tore his focus away from Rose and turned to face Donna, putting his hands on her shoulders. ‘I'll sort it out, Donna. Whatever's been done to you, I'll reverse it.’

‘What about Rose?’

‘I’ve had them for ages,’ said Rose. ‘I think they’re a part of me now.'

‘Will you be able to fix me?’ asked Donna.

‘I will,' said the Doctor. 'I’m not about to lose someone else.’

‘Oh, she is long since lost.’ 

The raspy voice echoed through the room as the far wall started to slide upwards, revealing a great big hole in the floor. ‘I have waited so long, hibernating at the edge of the universe until the secret heart was uncovered and called out to waken!’ 

Suddenly the Robot Santas appeared, aiming guns at the group. Lance managed to slip away but the Doctor, Rose, and Donna were trapped.

The Doctor peered over the edge of the hole.

‘Careful,’ warned Rose.

‘Someone's been digging. Oh, very Torchwood. Drilled by laser. How far down does it go?’ 

‘Down and down,’ said the voice, ‘all the way to the centre of the Earth!’ 

‘Really? Seriously? What for?’ 

‘Dinosaurs,’ said Donna. 

‘What?' 

‘Dinosaurs?’ 

‘What are you on about, dinosaurs?’ 

‘That film, Under the Earth, with dinosaurs. Trying to help.’

‘Journey to the Centre of the Earth,’ said Rose. 

The Doctor turned back to Donna. ‘That's not helping.’

‘Rude!’

‘But-’ 

‘Such a sweet couple,’ interrupted the bodiless voice. 

The Doctor had had enough. ‘Only a madman talks to thin air and trust me, you don't want to make me mad. Where are you?’ 

‘High in the sky. Floating so high on Christmas night.’

‘I didn't come all this way to talk on the intercom. Come on, let's have a look at you!’ 

‘Who are you with such command?’ 

‘I'm the Doctor.’ 

‘Prepare your best medicines, doctor man, for you will be sick at heart.’

With a bright light and a great hissing sound, a red spider-like creature appeared. The Doctor looked on in horror. It couldn’t be!

Rose took a hold of his arm and brought herself closer to him. ‘What is it?’ she asked.

‘Racnoss.’ 

‘Empress of the Racnoss,’ said the giant spider. 

‘If you're the Empress, where's the rest of the Racnoss? Or, are you the only one?’ 

‘Such a sharp mind.’  
  
‘That's it, the last of your kind. The Racnoss come from the Dark Times,’ he explained to Rose and Donna, ‘billions of years ago. Billions. They were carnivores, omnivores. They devoured whole planets.'  
  
‘Racnoss are born starving. Is that our fault?’ 

‘They eat people?’ asked Donna. 

The Doctor looked up and caught sight of something in the web. ‘HC Clements, did he wear those black and white shoes?’

‘He did. We used to laugh. We used to call him the fat cat in spats.’ The Doctor pointed to the pair of feet sticking out of the web. They were wearing black and white shoes. ‘Oh, my God!’ 

‘My Christmas dinner,’ said the Racnoss with a pleased smile. 

‘Poor bloke,’ whispered Rose.

The Doctor turned his attention back on the Racnoss. ‘You shouldn't even exist. Way back in history, the fledgling Empires went to war against the Racnoss they were wiped out.’

‘Except for me.’

Lance appeared on the balcony above the Empress. He made a shush gesture and grabbed a fire axe.

Donna must have noticed too because she suddenly decided to take charge of the conversation. ‘But that's what I've got inside me,’ she said, ‘that Huon energy thing. Oi! Look at me, lady, I'm talking. Where do I fit in? How comes I get all stacked up with these Huon particles?’ The Empress made to turn toward Lance but Donna used her incredibly loud shouting to distract her. ‘Look at me, you! Look me in the eye and tell me.’ 

‘The bride is so feisty,’ said the Empress as Lance continued to sneak up behind her.

‘Yes, I am! And I don't know what you are, you big thing, but a spider's just a spider and an axe is an axe! Now, do it!’ 

Lance started to swing the axe just as the Empress turned and hissed at him. Lance looked frozen in fear for a second before he lowered the axe and began to laugh. The Empress joined in. 

‘That was a good one,’ said Lance, pointing to the Empress as if they were best friends. ‘Your face.’

So that’s how the huon particles got inside Donna. The coffee. Stupid Doctor, he should’ve realised. Six months was a bit soon to be getting married, after all. 

‘Lance is funny,’ said the Empress. 

Donna looked at the pair confused. ‘What?’ 

‘I'm sorry,’ said the Doctor. 

‘Sorry for what? Lance, don't be so stupid! Get her!' 

‘God, she's thick,’ said Lance. ‘Months I've had to put up with her. Months. A woman who can't even point to Germany on a map.’ 

‘I don't understand.’ 

‘How did you meet him?’ asked the Doctor. 

‘In the office.’

Rose moved over to Donna and put a hand on her shoulder. ‘He made you coffee,’ she said. 

‘What?’

‘Every day, I made you coffee,’ said Lance. 

‘You had to be dosed with liquid particles over six months,’ said the Doctor. 

‘He was poisoning me.’ It wasn’t a question but a sad realization of truth. 

‘It was all there in the job title,’ said the Doctor, glaring at the man. ‘The Head of Human Resources.’ 

‘This time, it's personnel,’ joked Lance. The Empress found it amusing judging by her hiss of laughter. 

‘But, we were getting married,’ said Donna. All her fire was gone. She sounded heartbroken. Rose rubbed her shoulder soothingly. 

‘Well, I couldn't risk you running off. I had to say yes,’ said Lance. ‘And then I was stuck with a woman who thinks the height of excitement is a new flavour Pringle. Oh, I had to sit there and listen to all that yap yap yap. Oh, Brad and Angelina. Is Posh pregnant? X Factor, Atkins Diet, Feng Shui, split ends, text me, text me, text me. Dear God, the never-ending fountain of fat, stupid trivia. I deserve a medal.’ 

The Doctor hated the man more with every word that came out of his mouth. He’d known Donna for less than a day but even he could tell that she was so much more than that.

‘Oh, is that what she's offered you?’ he asked. ‘The Empress of the Racnoss? What are you, her consort?’ 

‘It's better than a night with her.’ 

‘But I love you,’ said Donna. 

Lance gave her a look of sheer pity. ‘That's what made it easy.’ 

‘Bastard!’ spat Rose and the Doctor put a hand on her shoulder to hold her back.

‘It's like you said, Doctor,’ continued said bastard. ‘The big picture. What's the point of it all if the human race is nothing? That's what the Empress can give me. The chance to go out there. To see it. The size of it all. I think you understand that, don't you, Doctor?’ 

‘Who is this little physician and his fiery little woman?’ asked the Empress. 

‘She said Martian.’ 

‘Oh, we’re sort of homeless,’ said the Doctor, waving the question away. ‘But the point is, what's down here? The Racnoss are extinct. What's going to help you four thousand miles down? That's just the molten core of the Earth, isn't it?

‘I think he wants us to talk,’ said Lance. 

‘I think so, too,’ said the Empress.

‘Well, tough! All we need is Donna.’ 

‘Kill this chattering little doctor man and his blonde companion.’ 

The Robot Santas stood to attention and the Doctor took a step to the side to hide Rose from their view.

‘Don't you hurt them!’ shouted Donna, stepping in front of the pair. 

‘No, no, Donna. It's all right,’ the Doctor assured her but Donna wasn’t listening. 

‘No, I won't let them.’ 

‘At arms!’ yelled the Empress and the robots pointed their guns at the Doctor and Rose. 

‘Ah, now. Except,’ said the Doctor trying to stall for time. He had a plan to get them out but he needed a minute.

‘Take aim!’ 

‘Well, I just want to point out the obvious.’ 

‘They won't hit the bride. They're such very good shots,’ said the Empress. 

‘Just, just, just, just, just hold on. Hold on just a tick. Just a tiny little, just a little tick.’ The Empress finally gave in and let him ramble. Rookie mistake. Letting him talk meant letting him win. ‘If you think about it, the particles activated in Donna and drew her inside my spaceship. So reverse it…’ The Doctor pulled out the canister of huon particles and twisted the knob on the top. Donna and Rose lit up once more. ‘And the spaceship comes to her.’ 

The TARDIS materialized around them just as the Empress had ordered her robots to fire. The Doctor heard the bullets bouncing off the outside of his ship. 

Wasting no time, he ran to the controls and set a course. ‘Off we go. Oh, Donna, you know what I said before about time machines? Well, I lied. And now we're going to use it. We need to find out what the Empress of the Racnoss is digging up. If something's buried at the planet's core, it must've been there since the beginning. That's just brilliant. Molto bene. I've always wanted to see this. We're going further back than I've ever been before.’

He turned, expecting to see Rose joining in on his excitement but she wasn’t by his side where she usually was. Instead she was sitting on the jump seat next to Donna. She had her arm around the crying bride in a comforting hug and the Doctor was once again in awe of her compassion. She was so human.

The Doctor’s smile faltered as he noticed the faint traces of bright light that were still lingering in Rose’s eyes. What had looking into the vortex done to her? What if she wasn’t so human anymore? It would be his fault.

He pushed the thought out of his head. It could wait until after they had dealt with the Racnoss.

Donna was wiping the last of her tears away when the TARDIS arrived at its destination.

‘We've arrived,’ said the Doctor. ‘Want to see?’ 

‘I suppose,’ said Donna and she allowed Rose to give her a hand up off the jump seat. 

‘Oh, that scanner's a bit small. Maybe your way's best.’ He made his way to the door and beckoned for the two women to follow. ‘Come on. No human's ever seen this. You two will be the first.’ 

‘All I want to see is my bed,’ said Donna. 

The Doctor opened the doors, determined to change her mind. Maybe seeing the creation of the Earth would lift her spirits… or at least take her mind off of Lance.

The two women joined him at the doors and stared out in awe. 

‘Donna Noble, Rose Tyler, welcome to the creation of the Earth. We've gone back four point six billion years,’ he explained. ‘There's no solar system, not yet. Only dust and rocks and gas. That's the Sun, over there. Brand new. Just beginning to burn.’ 

‘Where's the Earth?’ asked Donna. 

‘All around us in the dust.’

‘It’s beautiful!’ said Rose and the Doctor glanced down to watch her stare at the view in wonder. It was by far his favourite Rose expression. 

‘Puts the wedding in perspective,’ said Donna. ‘Lance was right. We're just tiny.’ 

‘No, but that's what you do. The human race makes sense out of chaos. Marking it out with weddings and Christmas and calendars. This whole process is beautiful, but only if it's being observed.’ He cast another quick glance to Rose who was still looking out into space. 

‘So I came out of all this?’ asked Donna. 

‘Isn't that brilliant?’ 

A large rock drifted past and Donna pointed to it. ‘I think that's the Isle of Wight.’ The Doctor laughed. That’s more like the Donna he had come to know. 

‘Eventually, gravity takes hold,’ he explained. ‘Say, one big rock, heavier than the others, starts to pull other rocks towards it. All the dust and gas and elements get pulled in. Everything, piling in until you get…'

‘The Earth,’ said Rose, her eyes still fixed on the scene in front of them. 

‘But the question is, what was that first rock?’ 

‘Doctor…’ Rose pointed to a seven-pointed star spaceship coming out of the dust cloud. ‘Look.’ 

‘The Racnoss.’

The Doctor ran back to the console and pressed a few buttons so they could watch the scene at an accelerated pace. Like fast-forwarding a DVD. ‘Hold on. The Racnoss are hiding from the war. What's it doing?’

‘Exactly what you said,’ shouted Donna and the Doctor ran back to the door to look for himself. The rocks and dust were being pulled towards the spaceship. 

‘Oh, they didn't just bury something at the centre of the Earth. They became the centre of the Earth.’

‘The Racnoss were the first rock?’ asked Rose. 

The Doctor was just about to answer her when the TARDIS shook violently. He grabbed Rose around the waist to stop her falling out. It wasn’t until he had pulled her inside and closed the doors that he realised that she hadn't really been in danger of falling in the first place. 

‘What was that?’ she asked.

‘Trouble.’

The TARDIS continued to throw its passengers around the room. 

‘What the hell's it doing?’ shouted Donna. 

‘Remember that little trick of mine, particles pulling particles. Well, it works in reverse. They're pulling us back!’ 

‘Can’t you stop it?’ asked Rose. 

‘Hasn't this thing got a handbrake?’ asked Donna. ‘Can't you reverse or warp or beam or something?’ 

‘Backseat driver,’ muttered the Doctor before he got an idea. ‘Oh! Wait a minute! The extrapolator!’ He bent down and picked the surfboard-looking object up from beside the console. It was still hooked up from when they were orbiting the supernova. It was hard to believe that that was only a few hours ago. It felt like a lifetime.

‘What good’s that gonna do?’ asked Rose. ‘Isn’t it just a force field?’

‘It can't stop us, but it should give us a good bump,’ explained the Doctor. He sat the extrapolator on the console and waited for the right moment to activate it. It had to be perfect. 

The TARDIS materialised back in the laboratory. ‘Now!’ he shouted and whacked the extrapolator with a hammer. The TARDIS left the laboratory and landed a couple of hundred yards away.

The three passengers exited the TARDIS and walked out into another eerily lit corridor. The time it was blue. ‘We're about two hundred yards to the right,’ said the Doctor before grabbing Rose’s hand and leading the way down the corridor at a run. ‘Come on!’

‘But what do we do?’ asked Donna when they had reached a door marked _No Entry_.

‘I don't know. I make it up as I go along.’ 

‘Don’t worry, he’s good at that,’ said Rose.

The Doctor pulled out his stethoscope and held it up to the door. 

‘But I still don't understand,’ said Donna. ‘I'm full of particles, but what for?’ 

‘There's a Racnoss web at the centre of the Earth, but my people unraveled their power source. The Huon particles ceased to exist but the Racnoss were stuck. They've just taken hibernation for billions of years. Frozen, dead, kaput. So you're the new key. Brand new particles, living particles! They need you to open it and you have never been so quiet.’ 

The Doctor turned around to face an empty corridor. Both Rose and Donna were gone.

\----

The Doctor entered the room unnoticed in his robot Santa disguse. Donna and Lance were tied up in a web on the ceiling and Rose was struggling against the two robot Santas holding her not far from the edge of the hole in the floor. The Empress of the Racnoss was taunting the couple on the ceiling.

‘You’re supposed to say “I do”.’

‘No chance,’ said Lance.

The Empress hissed angrily. ‘Say it!’

Donna and Lance glanced at each other before they both reluctantly gave in to the Racnoss’ demand.

‘I do.’

‘I do.’

‘I don’t,’ laughed the Empress. ‘Activate the particles. Purge every last one.’ Donna and Lance started glowing. ‘And release.’ The particles left their bodies and disappeared into the hole.

An agonizing scream echoed around the room and the Doctor froze. He looked over to see Rose still being held by the robots and glowing brightly. But the particles in her weren’t leaving as Donna’s and Lance’s did. They seemed to be trying to return to her body but kept getting sucked back out again by the Racnoss. The end result left Rose writhing in pain. 

‘What are you doing to her?’ shouted Donna but the Empress ignored her.

Finally Rose stopped screaming and the glow faded. She fell limp against her captors. The robots dropped her and she lay unmoving on the ground.

The Doctor desperately wanted to run to her but he knew that wouldn’t do any good. So, with one last look at his blonde companion, he started ascending the stairs with newfound determination.

‘The little blonde woman is most interesting,’ said the Empress. ‘How is it that she has huon particles embedded within her?’

‘Rose!’ shouted Donna. ‘Rose, wake up!’

‘Oh, I don’t think she will be waking up,' laughed the Racnoss. 'The secret heart unlocks and they will awaken from their sleep of ages.’ 

‘Who will? What’s down there?’

‘How _thick_ are you?’ shouted Lance.

‘My children, the long lost Racnoss,’ said the Empress. ‘Now reborn to feast on flesh.’ 

Donna and Lance glanced nervously at each other. The Doctor knew what was coming but he wasn’t in position yet. 

‘The webstar shall come to me. Now may babies will be hungry. They need sustenance. Perish the web.’

The Empress raised her knife-like claws to the web as Lance begged her to use Donna instead of him.

‘Oh my funny little Lance,’ laughed the Racnoss. ‘But you were quite impolite to your lady friend. The Empress does not approve.’ And with that, she brought her claws to the web and Lance fell into the hole with a scream.

‘LANCE!’ shouted Donna.

The Doctor winced. Lance was a bastard but he didn’t deserve that.

‘Harvest the humans,’ shouted the Racnoss. ‘Reduce them to meat. My children are climbing towards me and none shall stop them. So you might as well unmask, my clever little doctor man.’

Damn! The Doctor stopped and removed his disguise. ‘Oh well. Nice try.’ He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the web. ‘I've got you, Donna!’

‘I'm going to fall!’ shouted Donna as the web started to give way. 

‘You're going to swing! I've got you!’ 

The web broke and Donna swung across the hole, screaming. The Doctor realised too late that he had miscalculated the length of web. It was too long. Donna whacked into the wall underneath the landing where the Doctor stood and fell to the ground with a clang.

‘Oh. Sorry.’ 

‘Thanks for nothing.’ 

‘The doctor man amuses me,’ said the Empress.

Donna scrambled over to Rose. ‘Rose! Are you alright? The Doctor’s here. Wake up!’ Rose gave no response. ‘Doctor, I don’t think she’s breathing.’

The Doctor looked up to address the Racnoss, fury in his eyes. ‘Empress of the Racnoss,’ he said. ‘I give you one last chance. I can find you a planet. I can find you and your children a place in the universe to co-exist. Take that offer and end this now.’ It was the last thing he felt like doing but it was what Rose would have wanted him to do.

‘These men are so funny,’ laughed the Empress. 

‘What's your answer?’ 

‘Oh I'm afraid I have to decline.’ 

That was that, then. One chance was all she was getting. Now she was going to pay for taking Rose away from him. 

‘What happens next is your own doing,’ he said darkly.

‘I'll show you what happens next,’ shouted the Racnoss. ‘At arms!’ 

The robot Santas lifted their guns. 

‘Take aim!’ 

All weapons pointed towards the Doctor. 

‘And-’ 

‘Relax.’ 

The robots all slumped and lowered their weapons. 

‘What did you do?’ asked Donna, she was still holding Rose in her arms. 

‘Guess what I've got, Donna?’ He pulled the robot remote control out of his pocket and showed it to her. ‘Pockets.’

‘How did that fit in there?’ 

‘They're bigger on the inside.’ 

‘Roboforms are not necessary,’ said the Empress. ‘My children may feast on Martian flesh.’ 

‘Oh, but I'm not from Mars,’ said the Doctor. 

‘Then where?’ 

‘My home planet is far away and long since gone. But its name lives on. Gallifrey.’

The Empress hissed loudly. ‘They murdered the Racnoss!’ 

‘I warned you. You did this.’ 

He threw some Christmas tree decorations into the air and used the remote to position them.

‘No! No! Don't! No!’ cried the Racnoss but the Doctor was beyond mercy. The baubles exploded and the water from the Thames started pouring into the laboratory and down the hole. Fires started to break out and manhole covers burst under the pressure. Water surrounded the screaming Racnoss. 

‘No! No! My children! No! My children! My children!’

The Doctor stood there staring at the scene, not caring if the water and fire took him too. Donna was looking up at him in shock when a cough brought her attention to the blonde in her arms. Rose spluttered a couple of times before opening her eyes.

‘Doctor!’ shouted Donna. ‘You can stop now!’ 

The Doctor looked down and almost cried with relief at the sight of Rose trying to sit up. He looked back out to the scene he had caused. What was he doing? He needed to get them out of there.

‘Come on,’ he shouted. ‘Time I got you out.’ 

He ran down the stairs and helped Donna get Rose to her feet.

‘You alright?’

‘I’m fine,’ said Rose before stumbling on her first step.

The Doctor caught her and lifted her into his arms. Rose protested but they didn’t have time to argue. 

They made it to the ladder that led to the Thames Barrier and the Doctor set Rose back on her feet.

‘Donna, you first.’

‘But what about the Empress?’ 

‘She’s used up all her Huon energy. She's defenseless! Now move!’

Donna did as instructed and the Doctor turned to Rose.

‘You next.’

‘No, you go. If I fall, I don’t want to take you down with me.’

‘If you fall, I want to be able to catch you. Please Rose, we don’t have much time.’ 

The water started to pool around their feet as if to illustrate the Doctor’s point. Rose nodded and stared to climb the ladder.

They made it to the top with only one incident. Rose’s foot had slipped but the Doctor was quick to steady her.

Slowly, they stood next to Donna on the barrier, clinging to each other for support.

‘Just there's one problem,’ said Donna. 

‘What's that?’ asked the Doctor, too focused on making sure Rose didn’t fall. 

‘We've drained the Thames.’

The Doctor looked out over what should have been the river but was now just mud. Donna started laughing and it wasn’t long before the Doctor and Rose joined in. 

\----

The TARDIS landed on the street outside Donna’s home.

‘There we go. Told you she'd be all right,’ said the Doctor as they stepped out into the night air. ‘She can survive anything.’  
  
‘More than I've done,’ said Donna and Rose moved over to her to give her a hug.

‘You were brilliant,’ she said before pulling away. 

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at Donna, giving her a quick scan from a safe distance this time. He didn’t want to risk getting another slap.  
  
‘No, all the Huon particles have gone,’ he said once the scan was complete. ‘No damage, you're fine.’ 

‘Yeah, but apart from that, I missed my wedding, lost my job and became a widow on the same day. Sort of.’ 

‘I couldn't save him.’ 

‘He deserved it,’ said Donna before sighing. ‘No, he didn't. I'd better get inside. They'll be worried.’ 

She pointed to a house behind her. The Doctor could see her parents through the open living room curtains. 

‘Best Christmas present they could have,’ said Rose smiling. 

‘Oh, no. You hate Christmas, don’t you?’ said the Doctor. 

‘Yes, I do,’ replied Donna. 

‘Even if it snows?’ 

The Doctor stuck his hand into the TARDIS and pressed a button. The Tardis lamp turned yellow and a bolt of energy shot into the sky. Snow started to fall and Rose and Donna started laughing.

Rose gave him a playful whack on the arm. ‘You never told me you could do that.’

‘Oh, it’s just your basic atmospheric excitation. Easy.’ 

Donna’s laugh died down and she looked at the pair in front of her with a warm expression. ‘Merry Christmas,’ she said.  
  
‘And you,’ said the Doctor. 

‘Merry Christmas,’ said Rose. ‘So, what now for Donna Noble?’ 

‘Not getting married, for starters,’ said Donna. ‘And I'm not going to temp anymore. I don't know. Travel. See a bit more of planet Earth. Walk in the dust. Just go out there and do something.’

Rose smiled at her before turning to face the Doctor. He knew that look. It was the same one she had when she wanted Adam to travel with them, and then again with Jack. This time, however, the Doctor did not need convincing. He turned back to Donna. ‘Well, you could always…’ he trailed off, suddenly wondering if this was the best time for another companion. He still had to find out what the Huon particles had done to Rose.  
  
‘What?’ asked Donna. 

‘Come with us,’ said Rose before the Doctor could say anything. 

Donna shook her head. ‘No.’ 

The Doctor bowed his head. ‘Okay.’

‘But-’ Rose went to argue but Donna stopped her. 

‘I can't. Everything we did today. Do you live your life like that?’

‘Not all the time.’ 

‘I think you do. And I couldn't.’

Rose went to argue further but the Doctor put his hand on her shoulder.

‘It’s her decision, Rose,’ he said.

Rose sighed. ‘Yeah. Of course. Sorry.’

Donna smiled at her. ‘Tell you what I will do, though,’ she said. ‘Christmas dinner.’ The Doctor and Rose glanced uncertainly at each other. ‘Oh, come on. You might as well, because Mum always cooks enough for twenty.’ 

‘It’s been a long day,’ said the Doctor. ‘And I really need to get Rose to the med-bay.’ He didn’t mention not wanting to stir up memories of last Christmas. Rose had been through so much the last couple of hours that it was hard to believe that it had been less than a day since she said goodbye to her mother for the last time.

Donna nodded her acceptance. ‘Another time then.’

Rose moved forward to give her another hug. ‘I mean it, you’re brilliant!’ she said after she had pulled away. ‘Goodbye Donna.’ She turned and walked back into the TARDIS, promising to meet the Doctor in the med-bay.

The Doctor turned to regard the bride in front of him. Rose was right, she was brilliant. ‘Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?’ he asked.

Donna shook her head. ‘Sorry.’ 

‘But you've seen it out there. It's beautiful.’ 

‘And it's terrible. That place was flooding and burning and they were dying, and you were stood there like, I don't know, a stranger. And then you made it snow. I mean, you scare me to death.’

The Doctor looked to the ground. He had gone too far, he knew it.

‘Am I ever going to see you again?’ asked Donna. 

The Doctor looked up and smiled. ‘If I'm lucky.’ 

Donna smiled too before taking on a more serious expression. ‘Just promise me one thing. Look after her.’ She nodded to the TARDIS doors that Rose had walked through moments before. 

‘Always,’ said the Doctor. 

‘Good. Because sometimes, I think you need someone to stop you.’

The Doctor was silent for a moment. ‘Yeah,’ he finally agreed before letting out a big sigh to break the awkwardness. ‘Thanks then, Donna. Good luck. And just be magnificent.’

Donna laughed. ‘I think I will.’

The Doctor gave the brilliant bride one last smile before retreating back into the TARDIS, closing the door behind him. He walked up the console, pulled a lever, and the TARDIS shot straight up into the sky before dematerialising.


	4. A Life Changed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter that I have fully completed so it may be a bit slower going from here on in, sorry.
> 
> I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the writers of Doctor Who for doing 90% of the writing for me.

Rose waited patiently for the Doctor’s scan to finish. Patiently and nervously. The Doctor had said that these Huon particles were deadly but she had had them for a year now. Why hadn’t they killed her? Or maybe they _were_ killing her and it was just taking a long time, like a cancer slowly destroying her from the inside.

All she knew is that they must be embedded deep into her body. When the Racnoss had tried to pull them from her, it had felt like she was being ripped apart. She never wanted to feel that sort of pain again.

The Doctor was nervous too. She could tell by the way he had been pacing the room for the last ten minutes. It was not helping her own nerves.

‘Can you just be still for a minute?’ she snapped, immediately regretting it. ‘Sorry, I’m just nervous,’ she said more softly and the Doctor moved to lean against the wall next to her.

‘I know,’ he said.

A beeping sound signalled the end of the scan and the Doctor leapt up and ran across the room. He read the scan with an expression that Rose couldn’t quite place.

‘Well?’ she asked. ‘Don’t leave me suspense, what does it say?’ Still no answer. ‘Am I gonna die?’

This seemed to snap the Doctor out of his own thoughts because he turned to face her. ‘No,’ he said. ‘The Huon particles aren’t killing you.’

‘So what are they doing?’

‘Done.’

‘Sorry?’

‘They’re not doing anything anymore. They’ve already done it.’

Rose fidgeted with the hem of her shirt nervously. ‘What have they done, then?’ 

The Doctor didn’t answer for a moment and Rose’s fear grew faster with every second. ‘Doctor?’

‘They’ve… changed you,’ he finally answered.

‘Changed how?’

‘Your DNA is different. It must have happened when you became the Bad Wolf. A side effect of looking into the time vortex.’

‘So what does it mean? I’m not gonna, I don’t know, sprout a tail or nothing?’

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at her. ‘A tail?’

‘Well, I don’t know! I’m not exactly a master in genetics, am I?’

‘You’re not going to grow a tail,’ assured the Doctor.

‘So what is going to happen to me?’

‘Nothing,’ said the Doctor.

‘Nothing?’ asked Rose in disbelief. The Doctor nodded. ‘Then what’s with the face then? I know that look. It’s the one you get when you think you've put me in danger.’

‘You’re not aging,’ he said.

‘What?’

‘Your DNA is now closer to that of mine. A Time Lord’s. Which means that you’re aging has been slowed down to a hundredth of its normal speed. And it’s my fault.’

The Doctor stormed out of the room leaving a shocked Rose behind. She knew she should follow him but she didn’t seem to be able to move. She was still processing what the Doctor had just told her. She wasn’t aging. The thought terrified her but at the same time it elated her. She had once promised to stay with him forever. It was an empty promise at the time and they both knew it but now? Now she could keep that promise.

She looked uncertainly at the door that the Doctor had just walked out of. He had probably hidden himself deep within the TARDIS by now, feeling guilty as usual. Or maybe he just didn’t want her to stay with him for that long. Forever was a long time, after all. The thought stung her but she pushed it away. Either way, he blamed himself and was no doubt punishing himself for it. She wasn’t going to let him do that to himself.

She left the med-bay and went to search for the Doctor.

\----

The Doctor sat in the TARDIS workshop, fiddling with some device that had been broken for so long that he didn’t even remember what it was supposed to do in the first place.

He sighed and put the object down on the desk. He took off his glasses and rubbed his fingers over his eyes. What had he done? Rose was now doomed to a lifetime of loneliness and it was all because of him.

 _She’ll only be lonely if you let her_ said a little voice in his head. He ignored it. He knew how Rose felt about him and part of him was overjoyed at the possibility of a long life with her but the other part of him knew how this went. People only stayed with him for so long. They all left him in the end and Rose would too one day. Sure, she loved him now but what about in ten years? What about a hundred? Eventually she would find something or someone to leave him for. Or she would be taken from him. Just because she wasn’t aging didn’t mean she wouldn’t die. Or she would come to resent him for what had happened to her. She would one day see that it was his fault and then she would hate him. And he couldn’t take that. 

He briefly considered dropping her off in London with Sarah Jane but quickly dismissed the thought. He had promised he wouldn’t do that to her. He sighed in frustration. Donna was right, he needed someone with him. He needed Rose.

There was a soft knock on the door and the Doctor turned to see the woman in question leaning against the doorframe.

‘Can I come in?’ she asked.

The Doctor nodded and she sat down on the bench next to him.

‘What are you working on?’ she asked, pointing to the device on the bench.

‘I have absolutely no idea,’ admitted the Doctor and Rose let out a chuckle. ‘I was just sort of fiddling. And thinking.’

‘What about?’ The Doctor gave her a pointed look. ‘I mean, specifically.’

‘Do you still want to stay with me?’ he asked, not looking at her.

‘Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I?’

‘Because of what I’ve done to your life. In the last day alone you have had to say goodbye to your family, been chased, captured, tortured, and now you’ve discovered that you are going to outlive everybody that you will ever care about. All because of me.’

‘This is not your fault.’ The resolve in her voice made the Doctor turn to her and he saw the determination in her eyes. ‘I was the one who decided to look into the Heart of the TARDIS. I’m the one who wanted to keep travelling with you, no matter the dangers. And I’m the one who chose to stay with you. Don’t blame yourself for this. Besides, I won’t outlive _everyone_ I care about.’ 

The Doctor stared at her in awe. What had he done to deserve her loyalty?

His silence must have worried her because she ducked her head down so she was no longer looking him in the eye. ‘Unless you want me to leave.’

‘No,’ said the Doctor a little too quickly and Rose’s head shot up to look at him once more. ‘I want you to stay, Rose. I just… don’t want you to wake up one day and hate me for how your life turned out.’

‘Never going to happen. I promised you forever, remember?’

The Doctor gave a small smile, still not quite believing her.

‘Besides,' she said, 'stuck with you… not so bad.’ The Doctor smiled properly at that. 

‘So what other surprises have you got for me? Are the Huon particles gonna give me superpowers?’

The Doctor chuckled. ‘I don’t think so, sorry. Like I said, your DNA is closer to that of a Time Lord so you will probably heal a bit quicker.’

‘If I’m like a Time Lord, does that mean I can regenerate?’

‘I don’t know and I don’t particularly want to find out.’

‘Yeah, it’s not exactly something we can test, is it?’ 

‘No.’

There was an awkward pause before the Doctor asked, 'Do you remember anything from when you were the Bad Wolf?'

Rose shook her head. 'Not really. I just remember this singing and a bright light and...'

'And?'

'And just wanting to keep you safe.' 

There was another awkward pause before Rose broke the silence. ‘Are we still good?’ she asked.

The Doctor nodded. ‘Yeah, we’re good.’ To prove his point he reached out and brought her into a hug.

He couldn't help but be amazed at how well Rose was handling the situation. Far better than he was, that was for sure. She had accepted her new life with ease. He shouldn’t have been surprised, really.

That little voice nagged at him again. _So what’s stopping you?_

The Doctor pulled away from Rose and shook his head, banishing the voice. Despite Rose’s promise, he knew the truth. She would leave him one day and it would hurt enough just being this close to her. If they were to become more, the pain would be unbearable when she left. No, it was better this way.

‘You alright?’ asked Rose.

The Doctor brought himself out of his thoughts. ‘I’m fine,’ he lied before grabbing her hand and leading her out of the room. ‘Come on. I just realised that we still haven’t been to Barcelona.’

Rose laughed but stopped in the middle of the hallway. He turned to look at her when he felt her hand slip out of his.

‘Maybe tomorrow, yeah?’ she said. ‘It’s been a long day and I’m knackered.’

‘Right. Of course,’ said the Doctor berating himself. Of course she was tired. It had been an exhausting day and she was only human… well, sort of. ‘Go get a good night’s sleep. We’ll go to Barcelona in the morning.’

Rose yawned loudly. ‘Kay,’ she said. ‘Goodnight.’

‘Goodnight, Rose,’ replied the Doctor and he watched her walk down the corridor towards her bedroom.

He sighed and set off towards the console room. This was another fine mess he had gotten himself into.


	5. Smith, Jones, and Tyler Part One

Rose sat next to the Doctor’s hospital bed. The chair had made for an uncomfortable sleep but she hadn’t had the chance to do much of that anyway. 

Her and the Doctor had had a quiet week to recover from the business with Torchwood and then the Racnoss. They were getting chips in London when the Doctor noticed the plasma coils around the hospital and had suggested a quick look.

A quick look ended up meaning a night’s stay and an argument about who should go undercover as the patient. The Doctor had originally suggested that Rose be the patient but she had protested. 

_‘No way. The first thing they’ll ask me is if I’m pregnant. You be the patient!’_

_After some awkward coughing, the Doctor agreed and checked himself in as John Smith and his wife, Rose Smith. Unfortunately he didn’t mention this to Rose and she had to quickly conceal her surprise so not to rouse suspicion from the nurse._

_‘So, why am I your wife?’ she asked once they were alone._

_‘So they won’t get suspicious of you staying the night with me. Here, put this on.’_

Rose fiddled with the ring on her finger. It was the bio-damper that the Doctor had given Donna a week previously.

‘Are you sure there’s something here?’ she asked him, trying not to notice that he was fiddling with his own make-believe wedding ring. ‘We didn’t find anything last night. Just got a lot of electric shocks from the door handles.’

‘Exactly. There is a very unusual amount of electricity in the air here and I want to find out why.’

‘So, we’re staying?’

‘Yup,’ said the Doctor, popping the p at the end.

The curtain swung open and one of the doctors from yesterday, Doctor Stoker, appeared with a bunch of younger doctors. Medical students, Rose realised.

‘Now then, Mister Smith, a very good morning to you,’ greeted Doctor Stoker. ‘How are you today?’ 

‘Oh, not so bad. Still a bit, you know, blah,’ said the Doctor making a face. 

Dr. Stoker turned to the students. ‘John Smith, admitted yesterday with severe abdominal pains. Jones, why don't you see what you can find? Amaze me.’  
  
A young black woman approached the Doctor and got out her stethoscope. ‘That wasn't very clever,’ she said, ‘running around outside, was it?’ 

Rose looked to the Doctor for an explanation but he looked just as confused as she was. 

‘Sorry?’ he asked. 

‘On Chancellor Street this morning? You came up to me and took your tie off.’ 

‘Really? What did I do that for?’ 

‘I don't know, you just did.’ 

‘Not me. I was here, in bed, wasn’t I Rose?’

Rose nodded. ‘Yeah, just ask the nurses.’ 

‘Well, that's weird, cause it looked like you. Have you got a brother?’ 

‘No, not any more. Just me.’ 

‘As time passes and I grow ever more infirm and weary, Miss Jones,’ said an impatient Dr. Stoker. 

‘Sorry. Right,’ said the student and she held the stethoscope to the Doctor’s chest. Rose could see the exact moment when the woman noticed the double heartbeat. Slowly she moved the stethoscope to the other side of chest and looked up at him suspiciously. The Doctor winked at her and she pulled the stethoscope away. 

‘I weep for future generations,’ said Dr. Stoker. ‘Are you having trouble locating the heart, Miss Jones?’ 

‘Er, I don't know. Stomach cramps?’ 

‘That is a symptom, not a diagnosis. And you rather failed basic techniques by not consulting first with the patient's chart.’ 

Stoker lifted the chart but quickly dropped it as it gave him an electric shock. 

‘That happened to me this morning,’ said the medical student, Jones. 

‘I had the same thing on the door handle,’ said another student.

‘Me too,’ said Rose.

‘And me, on the lift,’ piped in one of the others. 

‘That's only to be expected,’ said Dr. Stoker, picking the chart up again. ‘There's a thunderstorm moving in and lightning is a form of static electricity, as was first proven by… Anyone?’ 

‘Benjamin Franklin,’ answered the Doctor.

‘Correct.’ 

‘My mate, Ben. That was a day and a half. I got rope burns off that kite, and then I got soaked.’ 

‘Quite.’ 

‘And then I got electrocuted.’ 

Rose couldn’t help but giggle at the look on Dr. Stoker’s face. 

‘Moving on. I think perhaps a visit from psychiatric.’

Stoker and his group of students moved on to the next patient. The young woman, Jones, looked back curiously at the Doctor and Rose before moving on with the group.

‘Benjamin Franklin?’ asked Rose once everyone was out of earshot.

‘What? He was a good friend of mine.’

Rose just laughed. ‘Somehow, I’m not surprised.’

\----

Rose sat on the Doctor’s bed while she waited for him to come back. He had gone investigating. She held up her hand to admire the ring on her finger. She shook her head and lowered her hand. What was she thinking? The Doctor didn’t see her like that. This was just a cover, that’s all, a cover.

A loud clap of thunder made Rose jump and she walked over to the window to take a look at the storm outside.

It was weird. It was raining around the hospital but Rose saw the sun shining just a block away. The hospital must have been on the very edged of the storm... but why did the rain look so funny?

Rose gasped as she realised what was wrong. The rain was going _up_.

The Doctor walked back into the room. ‘Have you seen the rain?’ she asked him.

‘Yep,’ said the Doctor. ‘I think it’s time I got changed.’

He walked over to his bed and drew the curtains. Rose waited patiently for him to get changed into his new blue suit. She frowned, she wasn’t sure if she liked the blue. 

She didn’t have long to think about however as, with a flash of light and a loud clap of thunder, the whole hospital shook violently. It reminded her of being in 10 Downing Street when it was hit with the missile.

Screams echoed around the room and the Doctor stumbled out from behind the curtains. He was still only half dressed with his oxford shirt hanging off one shoulder.

‘What’s going on?’ she asked, shouting above the noise.

‘H2O scoop,’ shouted the Doctor, grabbing her hand and pulling her closer.

Rose clung to the Doctor as the building continued to shake.

Suddenly the shaking stopped and Rose became acutely aware that she was clinging to the Doctor’s bare chest. She jumped away from him as if he had given her an electric shock.

‘I should finished getting changed,’ said the Doctor before disappearing behind the curtain once more.

Someone screamed and Rose tore her gaze away from the spot that the Doctor had just occupied. She looked around the room and saw that everyone was panicking. Rose’s gaze shifted to a group of people crying near the window and she realised what they were all so upset about. The clock on the wall said 10.30am but it was pitch black outside.

She was just about to go for a closer look when two of the medical students from earlier came hurrying into the room.

‘All right now, everyone back to bed,’ instructed the young black woman. Jones, Rose remembered. ‘We've got an emergency but we'll sort it out. Don't worry.’ 

The two students walked over to the window and Rose walked up behind them to see what they were looking at. She looked out at the view before her and had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at the situation. Typical, she thought. Only the Doctor could send them on a little undercover operation in a London hospital and have them wind up stuck on the moon.

‘It's real. It's really real,’ said Jones. ‘Hold on.’ She went to open the window but the other woman stopped her. 

‘Don't!’ she warned. ‘We'll lose all the air.’ 

‘But they're not exactly airtight. If the air was going to get sucked out it would have happened straight away, but it didn't. So how come?’

Good question, thought Rose. 

‘Very good point,’ said the Doctor pulling back his curtain. He was now fully dressed in his blue suit. ‘Brilliant, in fact. What was your name?’ 

‘Martha.’ 

‘And it was Jones, wasn't it?’ Martha nodded. ‘Well then, Martha Jones, the question is, how are we still breathing?’

He joined them at the window.

‘We can't be,’ said Martha’s friend. 

‘Obviously we are, so don't waste my time.’

‘Being rude,’ warned Rose and the Doctor gave the medical student an apologetic look before returning his focus to Martha.

‘Martha, what have we got? Is there a balcony on this floor, or a veranda, or…’ 

‘By the patients' lounge, yeah.’ 

‘Fancy going out?’ 

Martha looked scared but that obviously wasn’t going to stop her. ‘Okay.’ 

‘We might die,’ warned the Doctor. 

‘We might not.'

Rose smiled. Good answer.

The Doctor seemed to think so too. ‘Good. Come on,’ he said before grabbing Rose’s hand and leading them towards the patients’ lounge. Martha gave her friend’s shoulder a comforting squeeze before following the two time travellers.

\----

The Doctor and Martha opened the glass doors of the patients’ lounge balcony and the three of them took a big breath each.

‘We've got air,’ said Martha, relieved but confused. ‘How does that work?’ 

‘I’m just glad it does,’ said Rose, looking out at the view of the Earth. She pointed to it. ‘I think I can see my house from here,’ she joked and the Doctor chuckled. 

‘I've got a party tonight,’ said Martha. ‘It's my brother's twenty-first. My mother's going to be really, really…’ She trailed off, the reality of the situation finally hitting her. 

‘You alright?’ asked Rose.  
  
‘Yeah.’ 

‘Sure?’ asked the Doctor. 

‘Yeah,’ said Martha, more confidently this time. 

‘Want to go back in?’ 

‘No way. I mean, we could die any minute, but all the same, it's beautiful.’ 

The Doctor smiled. ‘Do you think?’

‘It really is,’ agreed Rose. She would never get tired of this. Seeing all the amazing sights that the universe had to offer.

‘How many people want to go to the moon? And here we are,’ said Martha.

‘Standing in the Earthlight,’ finished the Doctor. 

‘Very poetic,’ said Rose.

‘What do you think happened?’ asked Martha. 

‘What do you think?’ the Doctor asked in return. Rose knew what he was doing. He was testing her.

‘Extraterrestrial,’ replied the student, once again showing her intelligence. ‘It's got to be. I don't know, a few years ago that would have sounded mad, but these days? That spaceship flying into Big Ben, Christmas, those Cybermen things.’ She paused, her expression turning sad. ‘I had a cousin. Adeola. She worked at Canary Wharf. She never came home.’ 

‘I'm sorry,’ said Rose. 

‘Yeah.’ 

‘We were there,’ said the Doctor, ‘in the battle. It was…’ He trailed off, obviously lost in memory. Rose took his hand and gave it a squeeze.

Martha seemed to have composed herself. ‘I promise you, Mister and Mrs. Smith, we will find a way out,’ she said defiantly. ‘If we can travel to the moon, then we can travel back. There's got to be a way.’ 

‘Oh, it’s not Smith,’ said the Doctor. ‘That's not our real name.’ 

‘What is it, then?’

‘My name is Rose,’ said Rose. ‘Rose Tyler.’ 

‘And you?’ 

‘I'm the Doctor.’ 

Martha laughed. ‘Me too, if I can pass my exams. What is it then, Doctor Tyler?’ 

‘Oh no, we’re not actually married,’ admitted the Doctor. ‘And it’s just the Doctor.' 

‘How do you mean, just the Doctor?’ 

‘Just the Doctor.’ 

‘What, people call you the Doctor?’ 

‘Yeah.’ 

‘Well, I'm not. As far as I'm concerned, you've got to earn that title.’

The Doctor looked a bit taken aback and Rose chewed her thumbnail to try and hide her amused smile. 

‘Well, I'd better make a start, then,’ he said as he picked up something off the floor. ‘Let's have a look. There must be some sort of…’ He threw the object over the balcony and it bounced off an invisible barrier, making it glow blue for a second.

‘There’s a force-field keeping the air in,’ said Rose. 

‘But if that's like a bubble sealing us in, that means this is the only air we've got,’ said Martha. ‘What happens when it runs out?’ 

‘How many people in this hospital?’ asked the Doctor. 

‘I don't know. A thousand?’ 

‘One thousand people suffocating.’ 

‘Why would anyone do that?’ asked Martha. 

‘Head's up! Ask them yourself.’

Rose looked up to see three massive spaceships fly over them and then land on the surface of the moon nearby. Columns of marching aliens started stomping out. They looked very military. 

‘Aliens,’ exclaimed Martha. ‘That's aliens. Real, proper aliens.’ 

‘What are they?’ Rose asked the Doctor.

‘Judoon.’

\----

The Doctor, Rose and Martha watched the Judoon scan the hospital staff and patients from their vantage point. They were hiding behind some plants just upstairs from the scene.

‘They look like rhinos,’ said Rose but the Doctor wasn’t listening.

‘Oh, look down there,’ he said, distracted. ‘They've got a little shop. I like a little shop.’

‘You and your little shops,’ said Rose, rolling her eyes.

‘Never mind that,’ said Martha. ‘What are Judoon?’ 

‘They're like police. Well, police for hire,’ explained the Doctor. ‘They're more like interplanetary thugs.’ 

‘And they brought us to the moon?’ asked Martha. 

‘Neutral territory. According to galactic law, they've got no jurisdiction over the Earth, and they isolated it. That rain, lightning? That was them, using an H2O scoop.’ 

‘What are you on about, galactic law? Where'd you get that from?’ 

The Doctor moved away from the pot plant to get a better look at the scene. Martha and Rose followed. 

‘If they're police, are we under arrest? Are we trespassing on the moon or something?’ 

Rose laughed. ‘Trespassing on the moon. I like that.’ 

‘It would be very us,’ agreed the Doctor, ‘but no. I wish it were that simple. They're making a catalogue. That means they're after something non human, which is very bad news for me… and maybe you too.’ 

He turned to Rose and she saw the familiar look of worry and guilt on his face.

‘Because my DNA changed? The Judoon might not register me as human?’ she asked and the Doctor nodded.

‘Why wouldn’t they?’ asked Martha. The Doctor and Rose turned to face the medical student. ‘Oh, you're kidding me. Don't be ridiculous. Stop looking at me like that.’  
  
‘Come on then,’ said the Doctor, getting up from their hiding place and moving further into the hospital.

They ran through the corridors until they reached an office. The Doctor tried to use his sonic screwdriver on the computer while Martha went to check on the Judoon.

‘They've reached third floor,’ she said once she had returned. ‘What's that thing?’ 

'Sonic screwdriver,’ answered the Doctor. 

‘Well, if you're not going to answer me properly.’ 

‘No, really, it is. It's a screwdriver, and it's sonic. Look.’ He held it up for Martha to see. 

‘What else have you got, a laser spanner?’ 

Rose rolled her eyes. She knew what was coming; she had heard it a million times before.

‘I did, but it was stolen by Emily Pankhurst, cheeky woman,’ said the Doctor before angrily hitting the computer monitor. ‘What’s wrong with this computer?’ He began running his hands through his hair making it stick up even more than usual and Rose had to fight the urge to run her hands through it. He really did have great hair. 

‘The Judoon must have locked it down. Judoon platoon upon the moon. Because we were just travelling past. I swear, we were just out for chips. We weren't looking for trouble, honestly, we weren’t, but I noticed these plasma coils around the hospital, and that lightning, that's a plasma coil. Been building up for two days now, so I checked in. I thought something was going on inside. It turns out the plasma coils were the Judoon up above.’ 

‘But what were they looking for?’ asked Martha just as Rose was about ask the exact same thing. 

‘Something that looks human, but isn't.’ 

‘Like you two, apparently.’ 

‘Like us. But not us.’ 

‘If they’re after some specific, shouldn’t they have a photo or a mug-shot or something?’ asked Rose. 

‘Well, might be a shape-changer,’ said the Doctor. 

‘Whatever it is, can't you just leave the Judoon to find it?’ asked Martha. 

‘If they declare the hospital guilty of harbouring a fugitive, they'll sentence it to execution,’ answered the Doctor. 

‘All of us?’ 

‘Oh yes. If I can find this thing first.’ The Doctor suddenly jumped backwards in his chair, causing Rose and Martha to startle. ‘Oh! You see, they're thick! Judoon are thick! They are completely thick! They wiped the records. Oh, that's clever.’ 

Rose watched the computer screen come up with a strange sort of error message before it turned itself off. 

‘What are we looking for?’ she asked. 

‘I don't know. Say, any patient admitted in the past week with unusual symptoms. Maybe there's a back-up.’ 

The Doctor picked up the monitor and started scanning it with his screwdriver again. 

‘Just keep working,’ said Martha. ‘I'll go ask Mister Stoker. He might know.’

‘She’s quite good,’ said Rose once Martha had left.

‘You think?’ asked the Doctor with an air of innocence but Rose knew him too well to fall for it.

‘You know she is. I know what you were doing earlier. You were testing her.’

‘Well, maybe a little bit. Oh, here we go!’ The Doctor’s face broke into a grin as the computer came back to life. ‘That’s more like it! Let’s go tell Martha the good news.’

They ran out of the room only to run straight into Martha.

‘I've restored the back-up,’ said the Doctor. 

‘I found her,’ replied Martha.

‘You did what?’ 

There was a crash from down the hall and Rose turned to see a man in a motorcycle helmet break through a door. He was dressed from head to toe in black leather.

‘Run!’ shouted the Doctor, taking Martha’s hand. Rose paused momentarily at the unexpected absence of the Doctor’s hand in hers. She quickly shook herself out of it however as the man started down the hallway towards her. 

She ran after the Doctor and Martha and followed them as they made a quick change of direction after seeing the Judoon. The man in leather was right behind her.

They ran into a radiology room and the Doctor sonicked the door lock. He grabbed Rose and Martha by the elbows and directed them behind the radiation screen.

‘When I say now, press the button,’ he instructed. 

‘But I don't know which one,’ shouted Martha. 

‘Then find out!’ 

The two women started to look around the small room for something to help while the Doctor fiddled with the x-ray machine. Martha found the Operator's Manual and started to read through it. It was a really thick book and Rose doubted it would be much use before the man in the motorcycle helmet broke in. The door was already starting to break

With a loud crash, the man broke into the room and the Doctor pointed the x-ray machine at him. 

‘Now!’ he shouted.

Praying that it was the right one, Rose slammed her hand on a bright yellow button and the leather-clad man was hit with a massive dose of radiation before falling to the floor. 

‘What did you do?’ Martha asked the Doctor.

‘Increased the radiation by five thousand per cent. Killed him dead.’ 

‘But isn't that going to kill you?’ 

‘Nah, it's only roentgen radiation. We used to play with roentgen bricks in the nursery. It's safe for you to come out. I've absorbed it all. All I need to do is expel it.’ 

Martha and Rose came out from behind the screen and watched as the Doctor began to bounce up and down. 

‘If I concentrate I can shake the radiation out of my body and into one spot. It's in my left shoe. Here we go, here we go. Easy does it. Out, out, out, out, out. Out, out. Ah, ah, ah, ah! It is, it is, it is, it is, it is hot. Hold on.’ 

The Doctor did a funny little hop and Rose had to stop herself from laughing. After a couple more hops, the Doctor took off his shoe and threw it in the bin. 

‘Done.’ 

‘You're completely mad,’ said Martha. 

‘You're right. I look daft with one shoe.’

Rose let out a bark of laughter as the Doctor took off the other shoe and threw it away too. 

‘Barefoot on the moon,’ he said, wiggling his toes.  
  
Martha shook her head, dismissing the crazy man in front of her, and walked over to the dead man on the floor.

‘So what is that thing?’ she asked. ‘And where's it from, the planet Zovirax?’ 

‘It's just a Slab. They're called Slabs,’ said the Doctor. ‘Basic slave drones. See? Solid leather, all the way through. Someone has got one hell of a fetish.’

Rose felt a wave of relief knowing that they hadn’t strictly killed someone but she still felt uneasy. It was always unsettling having to destroy something.

‘But it was that woman, Miss Finnegan,’ said Martha. ‘It was working for her, just like a servant.’ 

The Doctor wasn’t listening. He had gone to get his screwdriver out of the x-ray machine only to find that it was totally fried.

‘My sonic screwdriver,’ he said. 

‘She was one of the patients, but-’ 

‘Oh, no. My sonic screwdriver.’

‘She had a straw like some kind of vampire.’ 

‘I loved my sonic screwdriver.’

Rose walked over to him and patted his shoulder comfortingly. ‘I know,’ she said. 

‘Doctor?’ said Martha, only just realizing that he wasn’t listening to her. The Doctor turned to her. ‘Sorry,’ he said and he threw the screwdriver over his shoulder. Rose winced as it landed on the floor with a clang. 

‘You called me Doctor,’ he said, smiling. 

‘Anyway… Miss Finnegan is the alien. She was drinking Mister Stoker's blood,’ said Martha. 

‘What like some sort of vampire?’ asked Rose.

‘Yes! That’s what I said!’ exclaimed Martha.

‘Funny time to take a snack,’ said the Doctor. ‘You'd think she'd be hiding. Unless. No. Yes, that's it. Wait a minute. Yes! Shape-changer. Internal shape-changer. She wasn't drinking blood, she was assimilating it.’

‘What does that mean?’ asked Rose. 

‘If she can assimilate Mister Stoker's blood, mimic the biology, she'll register as human. We've got to find her and show the Judoon. Come on!’


	6. Smith, Jones, and Tyler Part Two

The Doctor, Rose, and Martha ran out of the radiology room but stopped to hide behind a water cooler as a second Slab walked past.

‘That's the thing about Slabs,' said the Doctor. 'They always travel in pairs.’

‘Like you two?’ asked Martha. 

‘What about us?’ 

‘If you’re not married, then what are you? You partners or something?’ 

‘Oh. Humans,’ exclaimed the Doctor. ‘We're stuck on the moon running out of air with Judoon and a bloodsucking criminal, and you're asking personal questions. Come on.’

They got up from their hiding place.

‘I like that,’ said Martha. ‘Humans. I'm still not convinced you're an alien.’ Just as the words had left her mouth, they walked into a Judoon who wasted no time in scanning the Doctor.

‘Non-human,’ said the Judoon. 

‘Oh my God, you really are’ 

‘And again,’ said the Doctor, once again grabbing Martha’s hand. This time Rose didn’t pause. 

They ran around the corner just as the Judoon fired their weapons. They kept running up the stairs until they had lost their pursuers. They walked along a corridor. People were slumping to the floor, exhausted from the lack of oxygen.

‘They've done this floor, said the Doctor. ‘Come on. The Judoon are logical and just a little bit thick. They won't go back to check a floor they've checked already. If we're lucky.’ 

‘We can’t just leave them,’ said Rose.

‘There’s nothing we can do here. The best way to help these people is to find the shape-changer before the oxygen runs out.’

Rose nodded. She obviously wasn’t happy about abandoning the people but she knew that he was right.

Martha walked over to her friend form earlier who was giving someone oxygen. The Doctor felt a pang of guilt for being so rude to the student earlier. She may not have been as quick-thinking as Martha but she definitely had the makings of a good doctor. 

‘How much oxygen is there?’ asked Martha. 

‘Not enough for all these people,’ replied her friend. ‘We're going to run out.’ 

‘How are you two feeling?’ the Doctor asked Rose and Martha. ‘Are you all right?’ 

‘I'm running on adrenaline,’ said Martha. 

‘Welcome to my world,’ said Rose with a slight smile.  
  
‘What about the Judoon?’ 

‘Nah, great big lung reserves,’ explained the Doctor. ‘It won't slow them down. Where's Mister Stoker's office?’ 

Martha got up and led them around the corner. ‘It's this way.’

The three entered the office tentatively but their caution proved unnecessary. The office was empty apart from the pale dead body lying on the floor.

‘She's gone. She was here,’ said Martha as the Doctor moved over to examine Dr. Stoker.

‘Drained him dry,’ he said. ‘Every last drop. I was right. She's a Plasmavore.’

‘What’s a plasmavore?’ asked Rose just as Martha asked what she was doing on Earth. 

The Doctor chose to answer Martha’s question. He didn’t have time to go into depth of the origins and culture of the Plasmavores. He would tell Rose about it later. ‘She’s hiding,’ he said. ‘On the run. Like Ronald Biggs in Rio de Janeiro. What's she doing now? She's still not safe. The Judoon could execute us all.’ It didn’t make sense and the Doctor didn’t like things that didn’t make sense. Well, he did, but not when so many lives were on the line. One thing was for certain; he wasn’t going to get answers here. He got up and beckoned the others to follow him out of the office but Martha didn’t follow straight away. Instead she knelt down beside Dr. Stoker and closed his eyes. The Doctor was impressed by the small show of respect. He was really beginning to like Martha Jones.

‘Okay, we can go now,’ said the medical student, joining the Doctor and Rose at the door. Rose gave her a small smile before the three walked back into the corridor.

The Doctor’s brain was working in overdrive. ‘Think, think, think. If I was a Plasmavore surrounded by police, what would I do?’ He looked up and spotted a sign on the wall. One of those ones told you which way to go for certain departments. This one indicated the MRI rooms. ‘Oh, she's as clever as me. Almost.’

There was a crash behind them followed by a few screams. The Judoon were coming.

‘Find the non-human,’ the Judoon were saying. ‘Execute.’ 

He needed to slow them down and he could only think of one way to do it. He looked at the two women in front of him. But which one? He wanted it to be Rose. Oh God, he wanted it to be Rose, but her DNA had changed and he didn’t know if the Judoon’s scanners would register her as human. If she scanned as non-human they would execute her. He couldn’t risk it. Martha it would have to be.

‘Rose, I’ve got an idea but I need my sonic screwdriver,’ he lied. She couldn’t be with him for this one.

‘But it fried,’ said Rose.

‘Only the hardware. The software will still be functioning and that’s what I need.’

For a moment, the Doctor wasn’t sure if she believed him but she eventually nodded.

‘I’m on it,’ she said. ‘Just… be careful.’

The Doctor didn’t answer. If he tried to speak, Rose would definitely hear the guilt in his voice so instead he smiled at her reassuringly. With one more nod, Rose ran down one of the corridors. 

He turned to Martha. ‘Martha, stay here. I need time,’ he said urgently. ‘You've got to hold them up.’ 

‘How do I do that?’ 

‘Just forgive me for this. It could save a thousand lives. It means nothing. Honestly, nothing.’ The Doctor cupped Martha’s face with his hands and kissed her thoroughly, trying not to think about how much he wished he could have done this to Rose. He pulled away and ran towards the MRI room, not looking back to see Martha’s reaction.

\----

Rose ran down the corridor in search of another way down to the x-ray room they were in before. She stopped just before turning the corner and turned to look at the Doctor and Martha. She watched in shock as the Doctor grabbed the pretty woman’s face and kissed her soundly before running away. Hurt and jealousy swirled within her but Rose pushed them aside. Right now, the Doctor needed her. She could deal with the Doctor’s obvious feelings for Martha later.

\----

It didn’t take Rose long to fnd the burnt out screwdriver and return to the corridor. She ran past the people she had seen earlier, they were now all unconscious and Rose tried not to think about how out of breath she felt.

She headed towards the MRI rooms which is where the Doctor was heading after he kissed Martha. Rose shook her head to banish the memory. Now wasn’t the time.

It wasn’t hard to figure out what room the Doctor was in, the Judoon’s voices carried pretty well. She ran into the room holding the screwdriver. ‘Doctor, I’ve got…’ She trailed off as she took in the scene in front of her. There seemed to be some sort of stand off between the Judoon and an old woman who Rose assumed was the Plasmavore.

‘But it was her,’ Martha was telling the Judoon. ‘She killed him. She did it. She murdered him.’

Murdered who? What was she talking about? Then Rose noticed the pale figure on the floor.

‘No!’ she cried and pushed past the Judoon. She knelt down beside the Doctor and put her ear to his chest. She couldn’t hear his heart beats and there was no sign of any regeneration energy.

Tears were forming in her eyes as she lifted her head up to face the Plasmavore. ‘You killed him!’ 

‘Judoon have no authority over human crime,’ said one of the rhinos.

‘But she's not human,’ said Martha. 

‘Oh, but I am,’ said the Plasmavore, not bothering to hide the victory in her voice. ‘I've been catalogued.’ 

‘But she's not!’ cried Martha. ‘She assimi… Wait a minute. You drank his blood? The Doctor's blood?’

Rose looked down at the Doctor. Bloody typical. He didn’t even need his screwdriver, he just wanted her out of the way so she wouldn’t stop him from sacrificing himself. Again.

‘Oh, I don't mind,’ said the Plasmavore, causing Rose to turn her attention back to the scene. Martha was pointing the Judoon’s scanner at the old woman. ‘Scan all you like.’

Martha obliged and the Judoon read the reading. ‘Non-human.’ 

The Plasmavore’s face fell, her smile of victory now belonging to Martha. ‘But, what?’ 

‘Confirm analysis,’ said the Judoon and they all pointed their scanners at her. 

‘Oh, but it's a mistake, surely. I'm human. I'm as human as they come.’ 

‘He gave his life so they'd find you,’ said Martha as Rose took the Doctor’s hand in hers. 

‘Confirm,’ said the Judoon. ‘Plasmavore, charged with the crime of murdering the child princess of Patrival Regency Nine.’ 

The Plasmavore had realised she was beat and gave up all pretense. ‘Well, she deserved it! Those pink cheeks and those blonde curls and that simpering voice. She was begging for the bite of a Plasmavore.’ 

‘Then you confess?’ 

‘Confess? I'm proud of it! Slab, stop them!’ 

The Slab moved forward but the Judoon fired their weapons and the Slab vaporised. The Judoon turned back to the old woman who was now behind the screen fidlling with wires.

‘Verdict, guilty. Sentence, execution.’

A siren started and Rose noticed that something was wrong with the MRI machine. 

‘What’s she done?’ she asked but no one was listening. 

‘Enjoy your victory, Judoon,’ said the Plasmavore, ‘because you're going to burn with me. Burn in hell!’ 

The Judoon all fired at her and the screen melted as the lasers went through it and vaporised the old woman who was still screaming manically.

‘Case closed,’ said the Judoon as they pepared to leave. 

‘But what did she mean, burn with me?’ asked Martha. ‘The scanner shouldn't be doing that. She's done something.’ 

The Judoon scanned the MRI machine. ‘Scans detect lethal acceleration of monomagnetic pulse.’ 

‘Well, stop it!’ shouted Rose. 

‘Our jurisdiction has ended. Judoon will evacuate.’ 

‘What? You can't just leave it,’ said Martha. ‘What's it going to do? 

‘All units withdraw.’

The Judoon left the room, no doubt heading back to their spaceships. Martha ran after them. ‘You can't go!’ Rose heard her shout. ‘That thing's going to explode and it's your fault!’

Martha ran back to the room and knelt beside Rose. ‘Is he...?’

‘I can’t hear his hearts,’ sobbed Rose. 

‘And he’s the only one who’s got any chance of stopping that thing,’ said Martha nodding towards the MRI machine. 'Move over, let me try CPR.’

Rose did as she was told and watched anxiously as Martha started compressions. ‘One, two, three, four, five,’ the medical student chanted. 

Rose got up to go look at the MRI machine. She had no idea what she was going to do but somebody had to be the Doctor. ‘He’s got two hearts,’ she said to Martha and the student changed her routine to accommodate. 

Rose walked towards the machine but fell to the floor before she reached it. The lack of oxygen was really taking affect and she could hear Martha struggling too. Rose tried crawling towards the MRI machine but even that was too much for her. She heard a big gasp from across the room just as she lost consciousness.

\----

The Doctor gasped for air. He turned his head to see Martha laying on the floor next to him. ‘The scanner,’ she whispered. ‘She did something.’ 

The Doctor looked up the machine that was emitting energy. That didn’t look good but what worried the Doctor more was the unconscious Rose beside it. He looked down to see that Martha was now unconscious as well. 

He crawled over to Rose and checked her pulse. She was still alive but she wouldn’t be for much longer if he didn’t undo whatever damage the Plasmavore had done. He took his burnt sonic screwdriver from Rose’s hand, noticing how cold she felt. He looked at the device and then to the MRI controls. There was no way the screwdriver was going to be able to help him.

‘Soddit,’ he said and he reached for the cables. He pulled them apart and the scanner turned off. He crawled back over to Rose and placed a hand on her face. ‘Stay with me,’ he said. ‘Just a little longer.’ 

Using what little strength he had, he picked Rose up and carried her out towards the window.

‘Come on, come on, come on, come on,’ he said as he watched the Judoon leave. ‘Please. Come on, Judoon, reverse it.’ 

He smiled as the rain began to fall on the window.  
  
‘It's raining, Rose. It's raining on the moon.’

There was a flash and a loud clap of thunder and the hospital shook as the Judoon returned it to its rightful place.

The Doctor carried Rose back to the MRI room and layed her down beside Martha. The Doctor checked the medical student’s breathing. It was returning to normal. The Doctor smiled at the two women in front of him, both brilliant in their own way.

Rose gasped and coughed as she woke up.

‘Rose!’ cried the Doctor as he scrambled over to help her sit up. ‘Are you okay.’

‘Never better,’ said Rose between coughs. Once she had recovered she looked up at him. ‘I thought you were dead.’

‘Yeah… sorry.’ Rose glared at him but her relief won out and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

She pulled away from the hug far too soon for the Doctor’s liking and turned to look at Martha.

‘Is Martha going to be alright?’ 

‘She’ll be fine. She’ll probably wake up in a few minutes.’ The sound of people starting to recover up came from the corridor. ‘Come on,’ said the Doctor, grabbing Rose’s hand and pulling her up. ‘I think it’s time we went back to the TARDIS.'

\----

Rose sat on the jump-seat in the TARDIS control room while the Doctor walked around the console, pressing buttons. Now that she was breathing normally again, she had time to think about what had happened in the hospital. 

Jealousy of Martha aside, Rose was still pretty angry with the Doctor. They had just found out that Rose was immortal and the first thing he does is go and sacrifice himself. How could he?

She was just about to ask him when he suddenly lifted his head and faced her.

‘I was thinking,’ he said. 

‘About?’ asked Rose when he didn’t elaborate.

‘Martha.’ 

Rose shifted uncomfortably on the seat. ‘What about her?’ she asked.

‘I was thinking maybe we should invite her along. What do you think?’

Rose couldn’t help the jealousy she felt. She was beginning to hope that the kiss she had witnessed was just some sort of weird dream that her oxygen-deprived mind had cooked up but evidently it was real. And now the Doctor wanted to invite her along. It was Madame DePompadour all over again.

‘She did just save my life,’ said the Doctor and Rose realised that she hadn’t answered his question.

‘I think…’ The Doctor was right. Martha had been brilliant today. She really would make the perfect companion. And they did owe her. ‘I think… that her medical skills will come in handy,’ she said and the Doctor’s face broke out in a wide grin.

‘Excellent,’ he said dashing around the console, pressing buttons with enthusiasm. ‘Just one trip to say thanks.’

‘No,’ said Rose, causing him to halt his excited button-pressing.

‘But you just said…’

‘No, I mean, not just for one trip, that’s not fair. You can’t show someone the wonders of time and space and then just send them home like a one-night stand. She doesn’t deserve that. So if you're gonna invite her along, you invite her for good.’

The Doctor looked taken aback and Rose held her breath, guiltily hoping that the Doctor would change his mind. He didn’t.

‘Okay,’ he said and returned to pressing buttons, albeit less enthusiastically. 

Rose felt the familiar feeling of jealousy and self-doubt kicking in.

‘Right, well, you go get Martha. I just need to get some rest,’ she said, turning quickly away so the Doctor wouldn’t notice the hurt in her eyes.

‘Are you sure you don’t want me to wait to get Martha?’ asked the Doctor. ‘Then we can ask her together.’

‘No, no, it’s fine.’

Rose quickly walked out of the room before the Doctor could argue further. She needed a bit of space to sort out her emotions. Jealousy, self-doubt, and ill memories of a 51st century spaceship all flooded her mind. And on top of all that, she still felt angry and betrayed. The Doctor had sent her away again. He left her without even saying goodbye. Rose wasn’t sure if she could handle this for the rest of her now incredibly long life.

She felt the TARDIS shake and heard the familiar wheezing noise as the Doctor sent them on their way to pick up their new companion.


	7. Moon Landing: Take One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, I'm not going to make this whole season into a big Rose vs. Martha thing. They'll soon become friends and decide to just be secretly jealous of each other.

Rose had calmed down a bit after a nice hot shower and a change of clothes but she was far from relaxed. She was angrily brushing the knots from her hair when she heard a knock on her bedroom door. ‘Come in,’ she called, putting the hairbrush down.

The door opened a fraction and the Doctor stuck his head through the gap. ‘Feeling better?’ he asked.

‘Much,’ Rose lied.

‘Martha’s here. We were just deciding on where to take her. Thought you might want to join us.’

Rose felt a wave of guilt. She really should have been there to welcome Martha on board. It wasn’t her fault that Rose was feeling like this.

‘Right, yeah. Sure,’ she said and she got up to follow the Doctor towards the control room.

\----

When she entered the room, she smiled at the look of awe on Martha’s face as she looked around the room.

‘It’s amazing, isn’t it?’ she said.

Martha nodded and turned to face her. ‘Glad to see you could join us.’

Her tone was friendly but Rose could sense the bitterness. Not totally uncalled for, she admitted to herself. Not being there to welcome Martha had been quite rude.

‘So where do you think we should take Martha first?’ asked the Doctor, oblivious to the tension in the room. ‘I was thinking Barcelona.’

‘No way,’ said Rose and the Doctor’s face fell. ‘I just put up with three days of you telling that joke. It’s not funny anymore.’

‘What joke?’ asked Martha.

‘They have dogs with no noses,’ explained Rose.

‘In Barcelona?’

‘The planet, not the city.’

‘Right. Yeah how about we stay a bit closer to home,’ suggested Martha. ‘I’m still getting used to the idea of a time-travelling spaceship. I don’t think I’m ready for another planet yet.’

‘I know!’ shouted the Doctor, making Rose and Martha jump.

‘What?’ asked Rose as he started plotting a course. ‘Where are we going?’

‘Well, Martha has just been to the moon, so let’s take her to see the very first human to do so.’

\----

The Doctor opened the doors and ushered Martha out of the TARDIS.

‘July 20, 1969!’ he said gleefully. ‘The day the human race made their first step amongst the stars.’

Martha looked around her. ‘Are you sure?’ she asked. ‘It’s just, it’s a bit hard to tell when we’re stuck in this cupboard.'

‘The TARDIS does seem to like them,’ said Rose looking around the small room.

‘Well, they are a good place to hide,’ said the Doctor defensively. ‘Come on, let’s go.’

The three walked out into a room that was buzzing with activity. People in white coats and suits ran back and forth, talking urgently to each other. A screen at the front of the room showed a grainy picture that Rose couldn’t quite make out from this distance.

‘We’re in the mission control centre in Houston,’ whispered the Doctor. ‘Right in the midst of all the action.’

‘We actually did it,’ said Martha. ‘We’ve travelled back in time.’

Despite Rose’s bad mood, she smiled at the young student’s excitement, remembering her own first time travelling in time. Although, the moon landing was lot more easy-going than the death of the Earth.

A man walked briskly past them but stopped and backed up a few paces, turning to face them.

‘Who are you?’ he asked.

The Doctor held up the psychic paper. ‘Doctor John Smith from UNIT,’ he introduced himself. ‘These are my assistants, Rose and Martha. Don’t mind us, we’re just here to make sure everything runs smoothly. We’ll stick to the sidelines.’

‘For a change,’ muttered Rose and the Doctor elbowed her.

The man looked over the paper once more before nodding and carrying on with whatever he was doing before.

‘But that paper is blank,’ said Martha once he was out of earshot.

‘Psychic paper,’ explained the Doctor. ‘It shows people whatever I want them to think. Oh, I hate starting from scratch.’

‘So you could go anywhere you like and people would just let you in?’

‘Yep,’ said the Doctor, popping the p at the end.

‘That’s incredible.’

‘Yep.’

Rose rolled her eyes and sat on a chair next to the wall.

A minute later, the Doctor joined her.

‘Something’s wrong,’ he said.

‘Should have guessed,’ sighed Rose. ‘So go on, then, what’s happened? Have aliens kidnapped Neil Armstrong in an attempt to stop human advancement?’

‘No… but I have this strange feeling that I’ve forgotten something. And that we’re being watched. It really-’

‘Doctor,’ said Rose, cutting off his ramblings. ‘What’s wrong?’

The Doctor refocussed his attention on Rose and looked at her with concern. ‘You. You seem… upset.’

‘I’m fine,’ lied Rose but she couldn’t keep the bitterness out of her voice.

‘No, you’re not,’ said the Doctor. ‘You’re angry with me.’

‘Damn right I am,’ hissed Rose. There was no point pretending anymore.

‘What have I done? Is it Martha?’

‘I’m not angry because of her.’

‘Then why?’

‘You left me!’ Rose practically shouted, earning a shush from one of the white-coated men. Rose took a breath to calm herself. ‘You didn’t even say goodbye, you just sent me away while you went and sacrificed yourself.’

‘It was the only way to-’

‘Its becoming a habit, Doctor. Satellite Five, Canary Wharf… France.’ The Doctor bowed his head and shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

‘Rose…’

‘Why don’t you ever let me stay and help? Don’t you trust me?’

‘Of course I trust you.’

‘Or are you just trying to get rid of me?’

The Doctor’s head snapped up. ‘No,’ he said determinedly.

‘Then why?’

‘Because I want you safe.’

‘We’re safer together. Haven’t you realised that yet?’

‘I’m sorry,’ said the Doctor after a few seconds.

‘Just promise me you won’t do it again.’ 

Suddenly a cheering echoed around the room and the Doctor and Rose looked up to see everybody celebrating.

‘I think we missed it,’ said Rose.

‘I think so,’ said the Doctor before turning to look at Martha. ‘Sorry.’

‘It’s okay,’ said Martha. ‘I got to see some of the excitement. Just being in 1969 is amazing enough.'

Rose gave her a grateful smile. If she could put her jealousy aside, she had a feeling that she would really like Martha.

‘Oh, Martha Jones, you ain’t seen nothing yet,’ said the Doctor with a wink. ‘Just you wait. Come on.’

The Doctor bounded towards the TARDIS, Martha closely behind him. Rose followed a little more slowly. She was glad to get all that off her chest but she hadn’t missed the fact that the Doctor hadn’t promised not to leave her again.

Sighing, she entered the TARDIS to see the Doctor once again jumping around the console excitedly. She smiled at the sight despite herself. There was no use worrying too much yet. She had a long life ahead of her and she was determined to enjoy it.


	8. The Shakespeare Code Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait. Between a full time job, online study, and tutoring my little brother in maths, it is quite hard to find time for writing.

Rose picked herself up off of the TARDIS floor. That had been a particularly rough trip and, considering the Doctor’s usual piloting, that was saying something.

‘Blimey,’ said Martha. ‘Do you have to pass a test to fly this thing?’  

‘Yes, and I failed it,’ said the Doctor.

‘I never would have guessed,’ teased Rose, sticking her tongue between her teeth. The Doctor smiled back at her, glad to see her mood had improved.

‘So, where are we?’ asked Martha.

The Doctor moved towards the doors and opened them, beckoning Martha to go outside. ‘Take a look.’

Martha stepped out of the time ship and looked in awe at the scene in front of her. Rose wasn’t far behind. The street they were in was definitely English… or at least British but it looked as if they had travelled back three hundred years or so.

‘Oh, you are kidding me!’ exclaimed Martha, joy written all over her face. ‘You are so kidding me.’

‘You’ve already seen the TARDIS travel in time,’ said the Doctor although he was smiling at Martha’s excitement.

‘1969 is all well and good and I was thrilled to see it, don’t get me wrong, but it’s still pretty close, isn’t it? Relatively speaking. But this? This is really travelling back in time. Where are we? No, sorry. I got to get used to this whole new language. _When_ are we?’  

Before the Doctor could answer, Rose grabbed Martha by the shoulders and pulled her back a few steps. ‘Watch out.'

There was a shout from a window above them as a man emptied a bucket onto the spot where Martha had been stood a second ago. Rose gagged at the smell. 

‘Somewhere before the invention of the toilet,' said the Doctor. 'Sorry about that.’  
    
‘I've seen worse,' said Martha. 'I've worked the late night shift A+E. Thanks, Rose.’

‘No problem. Travelling in time has it’s disadvantages when it come to hygiene.’

‘Speaking from experience?’

Rose grimaced. There was a time not too long after she started travelling with the Doctor that she had found out the hard way to check the windows.  
She heard the Doctor trying not to laugh beside her and gave him a light whack on the shoulder. ‘It wasn’t funny.’

The Doctor cleared his throat to regain his composure. ‘Sorry.’ 

‘But are we safe?’ asked Martha. ‘I mean, can we move around and stuff?’ 

‘Of course we can,’ said the Doctor, confused. ‘Why do you ask?’  

‘It's like in the films. You step on a butterfly, you change the future of the human race.’  

‘Tell you what then, don't step on any butterflies. What have butterflies ever done to you?’

He started walking down the street and Martha chased after him, asking more questions about time travel. Rose chuckled to herself before following. She remembered having all these questions too but she was just too embarrassed to ask them. She was worried that the Doctor would think she was just some stupid kid.   

When she caught up to them, they were figuring out where they were.

‘And this is London?’ asked Martha.  

‘I think so,’ said the Doctor, looking around the street. ‘Round about 1599.’

‘That’s Elizabethan, yeah?’ asked Rose. She was never one for history in school but since travelling with the Doctor she had gotten a whole lot better at the subject. The Doctor gave her one of his impressed smiles.  

‘Oh, but hold on,’ said Martha worriedly, stopping them in their tracks. ‘Am I all right? I'm not going to get carted off as a slave, am I?’

‘Why would they do that?’ asked the Doctor, genuinely confused. He was being thick again.  
   
Martha looked at him in shock. ‘Not exactly white, in case you haven't noticed,’ she said.  
   
‘I'm not even human,’ said the Doctor. ‘Just walk about like you own the place. Works for me.’ Martha didn’t seem too reassured but she continued to follow him down the street anyway. ‘Besides, you'd be surprised. Elizabethan England, not so different from your time. Look over there. They've got recycling.’ He pointed to a man who was shoveling horse manure into a bucket. ‘Water cooler moment.’  He pointed to two men talking next to a water barrel.  

They passed a preacher yelling apocalyptic warnings to the street. ‘And the world will be consumed by flame,' he shouted.

‘Global warming,’ said Rose.  

The Doctor chuckled. ‘And, of course, entertainment. Popular entertainment for the masses. If I'm right, we're just down the river by Southwark, right next to…’ He ran further down the street, Rose and Martha close behind. He stopped when he had found the view he was looking for. It was a magnificent looking building that stood high above the ordinary houses. 

‘Oh, yes, the Globe Theatre!’ he cried. ‘Brand new. Just opened. Through, strictly speaking, it's not a globe, it's a tetradecagon. Fourteen sides. Containing the man himself.’  

‘Whoa, you don't mean…’

‘Who’s in there?’ asked Rose, feeling a little stupid. 

‘Is Shakespeare in there?’ asked Martha.  

‘Oh, yes,’ said the Doctor excitedly before offering Martha his arm. ‘Miss Jones, will you accompany me to the theatre?’  

Martha took his arm. ‘Mister Smith, I will.’

‘And how about you, Dame Rose?’ he offered Rose his other arm which she gladly took.

‘Of course, Sir Doctor.’  

The three walked towards the theatre and the Doctor whispered to Martha, ‘When you get home, you can tell everyone you've seen Shakespeare.’  
   
‘Then I could get sectioned,’ said Martha, earning a giggle from Rose.

\----

Rose had never really enjoyed the theatre or Shakespeare but there was something about the atmosphere in the crowded pit they were in that just made it worth the while. Even if it did stink.  

‘That's amazing! Just amazing,’ said Martha. ‘It's worth putting up with the smell. And those are men dressed as women, yeah?’  

‘London never changes.’  

‘Where's Shakespeare?’ asked Martha ‘I want to see Shakespeare. Author! Author! Do people shout that? Do they shout Author?’  

A man behind them continued Martha’s chant and soon the whole audience joined in.

‘Well, they do now,’ said the Doctor.  

A man walked onto the stage, waving at the audience. Rose assumed that this must be Shakespeare, judging by the roar of applause he was getting. He started blowing kisses to the crowd. 

‘He doesn’t look much like his paintings,’ said Rose but the Doctor wasn’t listening. He was too focused on the man on stage.

‘Genius,’ he said. ‘He's a genius. The genius. The most human human there's ever been. Now we're going to hear him speak. Always he chooses the best words. New, beautiful, brilliant words.’  

‘Ah, shut your big fat mouths!’ shouted the man in question and the audience laughed and jeered. The Doctor’s face fell and Rose was torn between feeling sorry for him and finding the whole thing rather amusing.

‘You should never meet your heroes,’ said Martha.  

Shakespeare addressed the crowd, making jokes as he went, until he announced a sequel to the play they had just watched. He stumbled back for a moment before his body straightened up mechanically. 

‘When? Tomorrow night.’ As he spoke, Rose was reminded of a ventriloquist’s dummy. ‘The premiere of my brand new play. A sequel, no less, and I call it Love's Labour's Won.’

The audience erupted into applause once more. 

‘I'm not an expert,’ said Martha, ‘but I've never heard of Love's Labour's Won.’  

‘Exactly. The lost play,’ said the Doctor. ‘It doesn't exist, only in rumours. It's mentioned in lists of his plays but never ever turns up. And no one knows why.’  
   
Rose smiled; she knew where this was going.

\----

Never being able to resist a mystery, the Doctor had decided to go find Shakespeare just as Rose knew he would and it wasn’t long before he was barging past the owner of the inn and into Shakespeare’s room.

‘Hello! Excuse me,’ he said, knocking on the door and walking into the room. ‘Not interrupting, am I? Mister Shakespeare, isn't it?’

Shakespeare was sitting at a desk with two of the actors from the play. ‘Oh, no. No, no, no. Who let you in?’ he said. ‘No autographs. No, you can't have yourself sketched with me. And please don't ask where I get my ideas from. Thanks for the interest. Now be a good boy and shove…’ He trailed off as he noticed Rose and Martha enter the room. ‘Hey, nonny nonny. Sit right down here next to me.’ He waved his hand, dismissing the two actors. 

The landlady of the inn ushered the men out and Rose and Martha took their seats. The Doctor didn’t move and when Rose turned to look at him, she saw a strange expression on his face. Before she could identify it, it was gone, replaced by his usual bright smile. He walked over and placed his hands on the back of Rose’s chair, leaning forward slightly. 

‘Such unusual clothes,’ said Shakespeare to the girls, completely ignoring the Doctor. ‘So fitted.’  

‘Er, verily, forsooth, egads,’ said Martha, obviously trying to match the language of the time.  
   
‘No, no, don't do that. Don't,’ said the Doctor before showing Shakespeare the psychic paper, leaning over Rose as he did so. ‘I'm Sir Doctor of Tardis and these are my companions, Dame Rose of Powell Estate, and Miss Martha Jones.’

‘Interesting, that bit of paper,’ said Shakespeare, pointing to it. ‘It's blank.’   
   
The Doctor was obviously impressed. ‘Oh, that's very clever. That proves it. Absolute genius.’

‘But I thought you said the psychic paper shows people what you want them to see,’ said Martha. ‘Why didn’t it work?’ 

‘Psychic?’ asked Shakespeare before the Doctor could answer Martha’s question. ‘Never heard that before and words are my trade. Who are you exactly? More's the point, who is your delicious blackamoor lady?’   

Martha looked at Shakespeare in shock. ‘What did you say?’ 

‘Oops. Isn't that a word we use nowadays? An Ethiop girl? A swarth? A Queen of Afric?’  
   
‘I can't believe I'm hearing this.’  

The Doctor rubbed his fingers over his eyes. ‘It's political correctness gone mad. Er, Martha's from a far-off land. Freedonia.’

‘And what of Lady Rose?’ asked Shakespeare. ‘Is she from this far-off land also?’

Before Rose could answer, a man in expensive looking clothes and jewelry walked into the room.

‘Excuse me! Hold hard a moment,’ said the man. ‘This is abominable behaviour. A new play with no warning? I demand to see a script, Mister Shakespeare. As Master of the Revels, every new script must be registered at my office and examined by me before it can be performed.’

‘Tomorrow morning, first thing,’ insisted Shakespeare. ‘I'll send it round.’ 

‘I don't work to your schedule, you work to mine. The script, now!’

Rose smiled at the maid as she put the drinks down on a table, but the young woman wasn’t watching. She seemed too focused on the discussion between the two men.

‘I can't,’ said Shakespeare.  

‘Then tomorrow's performance is cancelled.’ 

The maid silently left the room. 

‘I'm returning to my office for a banning order,’ said the angry man. ‘If it's the last thing I do, Love's Labour's Won will never be played.’ And with that, he left the room, his heavy footsteps echoing behind him.

It was a few minutes before anyone spoke.

‘Well then, mystery solved,’ said Martha, breaking the silence. She sounded a little disappointed. ‘That's Love's Labour's Won over and done with. Thought it might be something more, you know, more mysterious.’  

Suddenly a man's scream rang out from the street, closely followed by a woman's. Right on cue, thought Rose as she, the Doctor, Martha, and Shakespeare ran out the door to discover the source of the noise.

They ran out onto the street to see the man in the expensive clothing vomiting up water. 

‘It's that Lynley bloke,’ said Martha.  

‘What's wrong with him?’ asked Rose as Lynley continued to cough up more water. ‘Where’s all that water coming from?’

‘Leave it to me,’ said the Doctor, rushing over to help the man. ‘I'm a doctor.’  

Martha followed. ‘So am I, near enough.’ 

With one last cough of water and a groan, Lynley fell to the ground.

Martha went to start CPR but stopped as more water poured out of the dead man’s lips. 

‘What the hell is that?’  

‘I've never seen a death like it,’ said the Doctor. ‘His lungs are full of water. He drowned...’

Movement from the balcony caught Rose’s eye and she looked up to see the maid from earlier peering over the scene. She didn’t look worried or frightened. It was a bit hard to tell from the angle Rose was on but the girl looked… pleased.

The maid moved from the window and Rose brought her attention back to the Doctor. He looked up and turned to the landlady of the inn. ‘Good mistress, this poor fellow has died from a sudden imbalance of the humours. A natural if unfortunate demise. Call a constable and have him taken away.’ 

‘I'll do it, ma'am,’ said the maid, appearing at the door. The young woman left and this time Rose was sure she looked pleased. 

Rose walked over a crouched down beside the Doctor just in time to hear Martha ask what had happened to Lynley.

‘Witchcraft,’ said the Doctor and the two women stared at him in shock.

\----

After Lynley’s body had been taken away, the group made their way back up to Shakespeare’s room. The landlady, whom Rose now knew as Dolly, appeared at the doorway. ‘I got you rooms, Sir Doctor, but I’m afraid there are only two. They are just across the landing.’  

The Doctor nodded his acceptance and Dolly left.

‘Poor Lynley,’ said Shakespeare. ‘So many strange events. Not least of all, this land of Freedonia where a woman can be a doctor?’ He turned his gaze to Martha. 

‘Where a woman can do what she likes,’ replied Martha.  

Shakespeare turned to the Doctor. ‘And you, Sir Doctor. How can a man so young have eyes so old?’  

‘I do a lot of reading.’  

‘A trite reply. Yeah, that's what I'd do.’ He returned his attention to Martha. ‘And you? You look at him like you're surprised he exists. He's as much of a puzzle to you as he is to me.' He turned to Rose. 'But not to you, Lady Rose. Your eyes hold more knowledge and more power than I think even you yourself are aware of. And they shine like the sun itself.’  

‘Anyway,’ said the Doctor. ‘I think we should say goodnight.’

Martha nodded. ‘Goodnight, Mr. Shakespeare,’ she said, before leaving the room. The Doctor took Rose’s hand and they started to follow Martha.

‘I must work. I have a play to complete,’ said Shakespeare, causing them to pause at the door. ‘But I'll get my answers tomorrow, Doctor, and I'll discover more about you and why this constant performance of yours.’ 

‘All the world's a stage,’ said the Doctor. Rose figured it must be a line from one of Shakespeare’s plays.

‘Hmm. I might use that. Goodnight, Doctor. Lady Rose.’  

‘Nighty night, Shakespeare,’ said the Doctor and they left the room.

Martha was waiting for them at their bedroom doors. ‘I haven't even got a toothbrush,’ she said as the Doctor and Rose approached. 

The Doctor let go of Rose’s hand and started riffling through his pockets. After a moment of searching, he pulled out a toothbrush and handed it too Martha. ‘Contains Venusian spearmint,’ he said as Martha took it.  

‘So, who's going where?’ asked Martha, nervously. ‘I mean, there's only two rooms?’ 

‘Which one do you want?’ asked the Doctor.

‘I don’t mind.’

‘Well, pick one.’

‘Okay fine. Ummm. That one,’ said Martha, pointing to the one on the left.

‘Then me and Rose can share this one,’ said the Doctor, indicating the one on the right. 

Rose didn’t miss Martha’s disappointed look. She felt herself begin to smile at her victory but she fought it back. She remembered her encounter with Sarah Jane and how catty the two had been to each other at first. It was not Rose’s proudest moment and certainly not one she wanted to repeat. Rose liked Martha. She didn’t want to be in competition with her. 

‘Goodnight, Martha,’ said the Doctor, bringing Rose out of her thoughts. ‘Sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite.’ 

‘Night, Martha,’ said Rose, before walking into the room she would be sharing with the Doctor. No big deal, thought Rose. They had had to share a room (usually in the form of a prison cell) many times before and no doubt would do so again.

The Doctor followed her but stopped at the door and turned back to Martha. ‘No, seriously. Watch out for bed bugs,’ he said.

He waited for Martha to say her goodnights and go to her room before he fully entered the room and shut the door behind him.

Rose looked around the room. They had been in worse. A lot worse (the aforementioned prison cells came to mind). The one thing she noticed about this room, however, was that there was only one bed. 

She eyed the single bed, which sat in the middle of the room, with uncertainty. The Doctor must have followed her gaze because he at once insisted that she have the bed.

‘Are you sure?’

‘You know me, Rose. I don’t sleep much anyway.’

Rose nodded and sat down on the bed. ‘You said witchcraft,’ she said. ‘But witches aren’t actually real.’ She chewed nervously on her thumbnail. ‘Are they?’ 

‘Course not,’ said the Doctor, looking out the window. ‘Looks like witchcraft, but it isn't. Can't be.’

‘So what do you think it is, then?’ asked Rose as she lay down properly on the bed. 

‘There's such a thing as psychic energy, but a human couldn't channel it like that. Not without a generator the size of Taunton and I think we'd have spotted that.’

Rose smirked. ‘You sure about that? I seem to remember someone missing a great big transmitter in the middle of London.’

‘That was one time!’ said the Doctor defensively but Rose just laughed. She would have felt guilty about teasing him if she hadn’t noticed that the Doctor was fighting back his own smile.

‘There is definitely no transmitter this time,’ he continued after Rose had finished. ‘No, there's something I'm missing. Something really close, staring me right in the face and I can't see it.’

‘The maid,’ said Rose, thinking back to when Lynley died. ‘When Lynely collapsed, she was looking on from the balcony. She didn’t seem very upset.’ Rose thought about it for a bit longer. ‘But I suppose we best not be too quick to judge. For all we know, Lynley could have been a right bastard. Maybe the maid was just happy not to have to put up with him anymore.’ The Doctor nodded thoughtfully but didn't say anything. ‘Whatever is going on here, it must be something to do with the lost play.’

The Doctor smiled and then, much to Rose’s surprise, he walked over to the bed and told her to budge over. Rose did so and he flopped down on the bed beside her.

‘Good deducting, Lewis,’ he said. ‘Someone wants this play to be performed but the question is…’ he turned to lie on his side so he was now facing Rose. ‘Why?’

‘Dunno,’ said Rose. She was trying really hard to not focus on how close the Doctor’s lips were to hers and how easy it would be just to lean in a little closer and bring them together. ‘Maybe Shakespeare will show us the script tomorrow.’

The Doctor beamed at her. ‘Great idea. But for now, get some sleep. Knowing our luck, we’ll probably have a lot of running to do tomorrow.’

Rose smiled. ‘You’re probably right.’

\----

Rose was having one of the best sleeps of her life when it was rudely interrupted by a piercing scream. Suddenly, her pillow rose up from the bed and her head fell down hard onto the empty space it had vacated. It took her a few seconds to realise that her “pillow” had actually been the Doctor and he had run out of the room. Remembering the scream, Rose quickly got up and ran after him. 

Rose met Martha on the landing and they both ran towards Shakespeare’s room, the source of the noise.

They entered the room to see Shakespeare just lifting his head from his desk. He had obviously fallen asleep and was just waking up. ‘What? What was that?’ he asked groggily.  

The Doctor was knelt down on the floor next to Dolly. The woman didn’t appear to be breathing.

Martha bent down to check on Dolly while Rose moved over to the window. She let out a gasp at what she saw. The Doctor may have said that witches weren’t real but this one obviously hadn't gotten the memo. She had a broomstick and everything. The witch cackled as she flew off into the night.

Rose turned to the Doctor and Martha. ‘Doctor?’  

‘What did you see?’ he asked, getting up and joining her at the window. 

Rose swallowed. ‘A witch.’  


	9. The Shakespeare Code Part Two

Dawn started to break and the Doctor, Rose, Martha and Shakespeare all sat in silence in Shakespeare’s room. Rose kept staring at the spot on the floor where Dolly’s body had lain not hours beforehand.

‘Oh, sweet Dolly Bailey,’ said Shakespeare. ‘She sat out three bouts of the plague in this place when we all ran like rats. But what could have scared her so? She had such enormous spirit.’  
  
‘Rage, rage against the dying of the light,’ quoted the Doctor.  
  
‘I might use that.’  
  
‘You can't. It's someone else's.’  
  
‘But the thing is,’ said Martha, ‘Lynley drowned on dry land, Dolly died of fright, and they were both connected to you.’ She nodded at Shakespeare.

‘You're accusing me?’  
  
‘No, but Rose said she saw a witch and you've written about witches.’  
  
‘I have? When was that?’

The Doctor leaned closer to Martha. ‘Not, not quite yet.’  
  
‘Peter Streete spoke of witches,’ said Shakespeare.  
  
‘Who's he?’ asked Rose.  
  
‘Our builder. He sketched the plans to the Globe.’  
  
‘The architect,’ said the Doctor before his eyes widened. Rose knew that look; he was on to something. ‘Hold on. The architect! The architect!’ He slammed his hand on the table and jumped up, his chair scraping along the floor. ‘The Globe! Come on!’

\----

Rose sat on the edge of the famous stage, her feet dangling over the ledge. Somehow it still seemed magical even with no one performing on it. Martha and Shakespeare were standing further back on the stage and the Doctor was pacing around the middle of the theatre.

‘The columns there, right?’ he said. ‘Fourteen sides. I've always wondered, but I never asked. Tell me, Will. Why fourteen sides?’ 

‘It was the shape Peter Streete thought best, that's all. Said it carried the sound well.’ 

The Doctor didn’t look satisfied. ‘Fourteen. Why does that ring a bell? Fourteen.’  
  
‘There's fourteen lines in a sonnet,’ said Martha. 

‘So there is. Good point,’ said the Doctor. ‘Words and shapes following the same design. Fourteen lines, fourteen sides, fourteen facets. Oh, my head. Tetradecagon. Think, think, think!’ He started hitting his head with his hand. ‘Words, letters, numbers, lines!’  
  
‘This is just a theatre,’ said Shakespeare. 

‘Oh yeah, but a theatre's magic, isn't it?’ said the Doctor. He walked over and stood next to Rose, facing the stage. ‘You should know. Stand on this stage, say the right words with the right emphasis at the right time. Oh, you can make men weep, or cry with joy. Change them. You can change people's minds just with words in this place. But if you exaggerate that.’

‘It's like your police box,' said Martha. 'Small wooden box with all that power inside.'

The Doctor gave her one of his impressed smiles. ‘Oh. Oh, Martha Jones, I like you.’ 

Rose pushed down the spout of jealousy that threatened to surface. After all, it was quite a good analogy.  
  
‘Tell you what, though,’ continued the Doctor. ‘Peter Streete would know. Can I talk to him?’  
  
‘You won't get an answer,’ said Shakespeare. ‘A month after finishing this place, lost his mind.’ 

‘Why? What happened?’ asked Rose. 

‘Started raving about witches, hearing voices, babbling. His mind was addled.’ 

‘Where is he now?’ 

‘Bedlam.’

‘Isn’t that some sort of hospital?’ said Rose.

‘The madhouse,’ said Shakespeare. 

‘We're going to go there. Right now,’ said the Doctor before running to the theatre’s exit. ‘Come on.’ 

Martha and Rose went to follow him but Shakespeare shouted at them to wait. He ran up to two actors and handed them a piece of paper. The script, Rose realised, and she remembered their plan to read through it. A plan that would have to wait for later.

\----

The Doctor, Rose, Martha and Shakespeare walked through the “hospital”. Rose felt sick. People were screaming in agony and insanity alike. Many tried reaching through the bars of their rooms as if asking to be freed, some just lashed out in anger. Surely there was a better way to help these people? 

‘Does my Lord Doctor wish some entertainment while he waits?’ asked the man who Rose had decided to refer to as a jailer rather than a hospital employee. ‘I'd whip these madmen. They'll put on a good show for you. Mad dog in Bedlam.’ 

Rose’s nausea turned into anger.

‘No, I don't!’ said the Doctor, cutting off Rose’s less polite reply. 

The jailer told them to wait a moment while he went to make sure Peter was “decent for the ladies”.

Once the man had left, Martha rounded on Shakespeare. ‘So this is what you call a hospital, yeah?’ she asked angrily. ‘Where the patients are whipped to entertain the gentry? And you put your friend in here?’ 

‘Oh, it's all so different in Freedonia,’ replied Shakespeare.

‘But you're clever. Do you honestly think this place is any good?’  
  
‘I've been mad. I've lost my mind. Fear of this place set me right again. It serves its purpose.’ 

Martha faltered. ‘Mad in what way?’

It was the Doctor who answered. ‘You lost your son,’ he said solemnly.

‘My only boy. The Black Death took him. I wasn't even there.’ 

‘I didn't know. I'm sorry,’ said Martha. 

‘It made me question everything. The futility of this fleeting existence. To be or not to be.’ He paused. ‘Oh, that's quite good.’

‘You should right that one down,’ said Rose. Even she recognised the famous line. 

Shakespeare seemed to consider it for a bit. ‘Maybe not. A bit pretentious?’ 

Before Rose could argue, the jailer shouted to them from down the hall and they made their way towards Peter Street’s room.

The jailer opened Peter’s door and the group walked inside. Peter was sitting with his head bowed, facing the opposite wall. Filthy rags hung from his thin frame.

‘They can be dangerous, my lord,’ said the jailer. ‘Don't know their own strength.’ 

‘I think it helps if you don't whip them,’ said the Doctor, his anger finally making a proper appearance. ‘Now get out!’ 

The jailer seemed non-pulsed. He just left them to it, shutting the door behind him.

The Doctor knelt down to face Peter. ‘Peter? Peter Streete?’ No response.

‘He's the same as he was,’ said Shakespeare. ‘You'll get nothing out of him.’ 

‘Let him try,’ insisted Rose. 

The Doctor put a hand on Peter’s shoulder and the man raised his head with a jolt. The Doctor lifted his fingers to Peter’s temples. ‘Peter, I'm the Doctor,' he said. 'Go into the past. One year ago. Let your mind go back.’ Rose watched on in interest. She knew Time Lords had telepathic abilities but the Doctor hardly used them. 

Slowly, the Doctor lowered Peter onto the bed and removed his hands from the man’s head. ‘Tell me the story,’ he instructed. ‘Tell me about the witches.’

‘Witches spoke to Peter,' said Peter, his voice displaying the insanity he no doubt felt. The poor man shook and shuddered with every word. ‘In the night, they whispered. They whispered. Got Peter to build the Globe to their design. Their design! The fourteen walls. Always fourteen. When the work was done they snapped poor Peter's wits.’ 

‘Where did Peter see the witches?’ asked the Doctor. ‘Where in the city?’ No answer. ‘Peter, tell me. Please, you've got to tell me where were they?’ 

‘All Hallows Street.’ 

‘Too many words,’ said the witch-like woman who had suddenly appeared at the Doctor’s side. The Doctor startled and quickly walked backwards away from her.

‘What the hell?’ said Martha. 

‘Just one touch of the heart,’ said the woman, raising her finger, threateningly. Rose realised what was she was doing just as the Doctor cried out for her to stop but it was too late. The “witch” placed her finger on Peter’s chest and the man screamed in agony as his life was ended for him.

The old woman raised her finger up to the rest. ‘Now, who would be next, hmm?’ she asked. ‘Just one touch. Oh, oh, I'll stop your frantic hearts. Poor, fragile mortals.’  
  
Martha turned to the door of the cell. ‘Let us out! Let us out!’ she shouted as she pulled on the bars.

‘That’s no use,’ said Rose, a bit too much bitterness in her voice. ‘The whole building is shouting that.’

‘Its better than doing nothing,’ Martha bit back.

The old woman was still contemplating her options ‘Who will die first, hmm?’ she asked.  
  
The Doctor stepped in front of Rose and went to move forwards but Rose grabbed hold of his arm to stop him.

‘Don’t,’ she said. The Doctor looked down at her and met her eyes.

They stared intently at each other for a moment before the spell was broken by Shakespeare. ‘Doctor, can you stop her?’ he asked. 

‘No mortal has power over me,’ said the old woman. 

The Doctor turned away from Rose and faced the “witch”. ‘Oh, but there's a power in words,’ he said. ‘If I can find the right one. If I can just know you.’ 

‘None on Earth has knowledge of us.’  
  
‘Then it's a good thing I'm here. Now think, think, think. Humanoid female, uses shapes and words to channel energy. Ah! Fourteen! That's it! Fourteen! The fourteen stars of the Rexel planetary configuration!’ All these deductions took less than 20 seconds for the Doctor to make. Rose could tell he was right. The creature before them was looking increasingly worried with every word the Doctor spoke. ‘Creature, I name you Carrionite!’ he shouted and the old woman screamed and vanished in a flash of light. 

‘What did you do?’ asked Martha, coming forward from the door. 

‘I named her. The power of a name. That's old magic.’  
  
‘You said there was no such thing,’ said Rose.  
  
‘Well, it's just a different sort of science. You lot, you chose mathematics. Given the right string of numbers, the right equation, you can split the atom. Carrionites use words instead.’  
  
‘Use them for what?’ asked Shakespeare. Rose had a sinking feeling she knew what the answer would be. 

‘The end of the world.’ 

\----

The Doctor, Rose, Martha, and Shakespeare sat in Shakespeare’s room at the inn. The Doctor was explaining about the Carrionites.

‘The Carrionites disappeared way back at the dawn of the universe. Nobody was sure if they were real or legend.’  
  
‘Well, I'm going for real,’ said Shakespeare. 

‘But what do they want?’ asked Martha. 

‘A new empire on Earth. A world of bones and blood and witchcraft.’ 

‘But how?’  
  
Suddenly Rose remembered her plan from last night. With everything that had gone on at the asylum, she had almost forgotten all about it. ‘You wouldn’t happen to have copy of that script you were working on, would you Will?’ she asked.  
  
‘What for?’ 

‘Well, wasn’t that what you were writing last night when the Carrionite killed Dolly? And the way you just sort of announced it so soon after the first play. Why the rush if you hadn’t even finished it?’

Shakespeare faltered. ‘I don’t know. I guess I just got swept up in the moment.’

‘What happens on the last page?’ asked the Doctor. 

‘The boys get the girls. They have a bit of a dance. It's all as funny and thought provoking as usual.’ Shakespeare paused as he thought back. ‘Except those last few lines. Funny thing is, I don't actually remember writing them.’

‘That's it!’ shouted the Doctor. ‘They gave you the final words like a spell, like a code. Love's Labour's Won. It's a weapon. The right combination of words, spoken at the right place, with the shape of the Globe as an energy converter! The play's the thing!’ He went to walk away but turned back to Shakespeare at the last moment. ‘And yes, you can have that.’ 

‘But the play is probably starting right now,’ said Martha. ‘We’ve got to stop it.’

‘We’ve got to get to All Hallows Street,’ said the Doctor before turning back to Shakespeare. ‘Have you got a map?’

Shakepeare pulled a roll of paper out from a cupboard and handed it to the Doctor. He sat it on the desk and the group leaned over it. Rose doubted it would do much good. The map didn’t look very accurate. The Doctor however, was undeterred. He pointed to one of the streets. 

‘All Hallows Street. There it is.’ He straightened up and turned to address the group. ‘Martha and I will track them down,’ he said. ‘Will, you and Rose get to the Globe. Whatever you do, stop that play.’ 

Rose and Shakespeare nodded in unison. 

‘We’re on it,’ said Rose. She turned to leave but stopped to wait for Shakespeare.

‘All these years I've been the cleverest man around,’ he said to the Doctor, shaking his hand. ‘Next to you, I know nothing.’  
  
‘Oh, don't complain,’ said Martha. 

‘I'm not. It's marvelous. Good luck, Doctor.’  
  
‘Good luck, Shakespeare,’ said the Doctor. He grabbed his coat and made his way to the door. He stopped in front of Rose. ‘Be careful,’ he said before giving her a quick hug.

‘You too,’ she said once he had pulled away. 

‘Once more unto the breach,’ shouted the Doctor as he ran out the door with Martha. 

‘I like that,’ said Shakespeare before pausing. ‘Wait a minute,’ he shouted, ‘that's one of mine.’ 

The Doctor’s head appeared at the doorway. ‘Oh, just shift!'

\----

Rose and Shakespeare ran out of the inn and towards the Globe.

‘You must have been with the Doctor for a while,’ said Shakespeare. ‘I can tell you are used to this.’

‘What? The running?’ asked Rose. ‘Yeah, it’s definitely a regular thing.’

‘I was talking more of the adventure. The thrill of the chase. Its evident on your face that you enjoy it.’

Rose cast a quick glance at Shakespeare before shooting him a smile. ‘Wouldn’t miss it for the world.’

The rest of their journey was spent in silence until they stopped for breath just a few blocks from the Globe.

‘Almost there,’ said Rose and she began to run again but stopped as she felt a stab of pain in her chest. She could have sworn she heard someone whisper her name.

The pain started to grow until Rose couldn’t contain it any longer. She let out a cry as she fell to her knees.

‘Rose!’ shouted Shakespeare as he rushed over to her. ‘Rose, are you alright? What happened?’

Rose waved him off. ‘I’m fine,’ she said although she felt anything but. ‘I just have to rest a moment. Get to the Globe. Stop the play.’

‘I can’t just leave you here.’

‘You have to. You have to stop the Carrionites.’

Shakespeare knelt there for a moment, deciding what to do. He eventually nodded and got to his feet. ‘I’ll return as soon as I can,’ he said before running towards the theatre.

Rose waited for him to turn the corner before she let the pain take over. She gasped as she scrambled over to the nearest wall and sat against it, holding her hand over her heart. 

It was a few minutes before the pain started to fade and Rose thought she may be able to stand. She slowly got to her feet, using the wall for support. When she was sure she wasn’t going to fall back down to the ground, she started to stumble towards the Globe.

She was almost to the theatre when a flash pink light erupted from the building, closely followed by smoke and lightning.

Rose heard a shout coming from behind her; someone was calling her name. Before she could even turn to face them, the Doctor had appeared in front of her. He grabbed both of her shoulders to steady her.

‘Are you alright?’ he asked.

‘I’m fine,’ insisted Rose. ‘Just a little woozy, that’s all.’ She gave him a reassuring smile to try and ease his panic. It seemed to work a little but not as much as Rose would have liked.

‘It was the Carrionites,’ he said.

‘I kind of gathered that.’

‘Where’s Shakespeare?’ asked Martha.

‘I dunno. He went on ahead to stop the play. I guess he didn’t make it in time.’

Screaming people began to run from the theatre and out onto the street but only a few made it out before the theatre doors snapped shut.

‘The back way,’ said the Doctor, taking Rose’s hand and pulling her around the side of the building.

They rushed through the staff entrance door and found Shakespeare lying on a bench. He was just waking up.

‘Stop the play,’ said the Doctor angrily. ‘I think that was it. Yeah, I said, stop the play!’ 

Rose let go of the Doctor’s hand and walked over to Shakespeare. ‘What happened?’ she asked.

‘I hit my head,’ groaned Shakespeare, placing his hand on his head. 

Rose turned to the Doctor. ‘It must have been the Carrionites.’

More shrill screams came from the stage area and all four of them turned their heads towards the source of the noise. 

‘I think that's my cue,’ said the Doctor and he ran through another door. Rose, Martha and Shakespeare quickly followed.

They ran out onto the stage and took in the scene in front of them. The audience were screaming and banging at the doors, trying to escape the swarm of bat like creatures that were appearing from the smoke. Rose could see the Carrionites in the stands. They were laughing manically at their victory. 

‘We’ve got to do something!’ she shouted.

The Doctor grabbed Shakespeare by the shoulders and led him to the front of the stage. ‘Come on, Will! History needs you!’

‘But what can I do?’ asked Shakespeare. 

‘Reverse it!’ 

‘How am I supposed to do that?’ 

‘The shape of the Globe gives words power, but you're the wordsmith, the one true genius. The only man clever enough to do it.’

‘But what words? I have none ready!’ 

‘You're William Shakespeare!’ cried the Doctor. 

‘But these Carrionite phrases, the need such precision.’  
  
‘Trust yourself. When you're locked away in your room, the words just come, don't they, like magic. Words of the right sound, the right shape, the right rhythm. Words that last forever. That's what you do, Will. You choose perfect words. Do it. Improvise.’

‘You can do it, Will,’ said Rose as Martha nodded encouragingly at the playwright.  
  
Shakespeare stepped forward and faced the swarm.

‘Close up this din of hateful, dire decay, decomposition of your witches' plot. You thieve my brains, consider me your toy. My doting Doctor tells me I am not! Foul Carrionite spectres, cease your show! Between the points…’ He faltered and looked to the Doctor for help.

‘Seven six one three nine oh!’  
  
‘Seven six one three nine oh!’ he repeated. ‘Banished like a tinker's cuss, I say to thee…’ he faltered once more but this time the Doctor had no words to give him.

The four looked at each other imploringly until Martha shouted, ‘Expelliarmus!’  
  
‘Expelliarmus!’ shouted the Doctor and Rose together and Shakespeare repeated the yet to be famous word.

‘Good old JK!’ shouted the Doctor and Rose laughed.  
  
The Carrionites screamed as they were sucked back into their own whirlwind of smoke. A door blew open and hundreds of pieces of paper blew out onto the stage and joined the Carrionites.

‘Love's Labour's Won,’ said the Doctor. ‘There it goes.’  
  
With one final scream from the Carrionites, the vortex disappeared and the sky was clear once more. Everything was silent for a moment before the audience started to applaud. 

‘They think it was all special effects?’ said Martha.  
  
‘Your effect is special indeed,’ said Shakespeare and Rose couldn’t help but laugh. Martha glanced at her and Rose was worried she was going to yell at her but instead, she started laughing too. 

‘It's not your best line,’ she said to Shakespeare as he took her hand and they bowed to the crowd. Rose didn’t miss the Doctor sneaking off into the stands. Gone to find the Carrionites, she assumed. 

‘So, is it always like this?’ asked Martha.

Rose turned to face their new companion and smiled. ‘Yep.’

\----

The next morning, Rose and the Doctor took a final look around the Globe for any pages of Love's Labour’s Won. They didn’t find any but they did find a very interesting selection of props. 

Rose picked up a neck ruff. ‘See, this is the kind of thing I think of when someone says "Shakespeare”.’ 

The Doctor chuckled and took it from her. He put it around his neck and put his hand in the air as if he was holding something before him. ‘To be or not be… What do you think? Do I pull it off?’

Rose laughed. ‘I think you need to be holding a skull for it to truly work.’

‘Hold on.’ The Doctor looked around the room before finding a skull. He held it up for inspection. ‘This looks a little familiar,’ he said.

Rose peered at it before realising what he meant. ‘It looks a bit like a Sycorax,’ she said.

‘Huh, it’s a funny old world. Come on. Let’s go get Martha before Shakespeare convinces her to stay behind and be his mistress.'

Rose briefly thought that that wouldn’t be such a bad idea but it soon passed. She had made a decision last night that she was not going to let her jealousy stop her from being friends with Martha. Rose was determined not to get in the way of the Doctor’s happiness. And if that happiness was with Martha, then so be it. After all, Martha was smart, funny, beautiful… exactly the type of woman the Doctor should want. Who was Rose to stand in their way? She tried not to think about how much that hurt.

The Doctor and Rose walked out onto the stage to see Martha and Shakespeare sitting awfully close to each other.

‘Looks like we got here just in time,’ whispered Rose and the Doctor chuckled.

‘Good props store back there,’ he shouted to announce their presence. Martha and Shakespeare quickly jumped apart. ‘I'm not sure about this though.’ The Doctor held up the skull. ‘Rose and I were just saying that it reminds us of a Sycorax.’

‘Sycorax,’ repeated Shakespeare. ‘Nice word. I'll have that off you as well.’

‘I should be on ten percent. How's your head?'

‘Still aching.’ 

The Doctor took off the neck ruff and handed it to Shakespeare. ‘Here, we got you this. Neck brace.’ He put it around Shakespeare’s neck and Rose bit her lip to stop herself from giggling at the sight. ‘Wear that for a few days till it's better.’ 

‘You might wanna think about keeping it, though,’ said Rose. ‘It suits you.’

‘What about the play?’ asked Martha. 

‘Gone,’ said the Doctor. ‘We looked all over. Every single copy of Love's Labour's Won went up in the sky.’  
  
‘My lost masterpiece,’ said Shakespeare sadly.  
  
‘You could write it up again,’ suggested Martha and the Doctor and Rose shared a worried look. 

‘Yeah, better not, Will,’ said the Doctor. ‘There's still power in those words. Maybe it should best stay forgotten.’  
  
Shakespeare didn’t seem to mind too much. ‘Oh, but I've got new ideas,’ he said. ‘Perhaps its time I wrote about fathers and sons, in memory of my boy, my precious Hamnet.’  
  
‘Hamnet?’ said Martha and Rose together.  
  
‘That's him.’  
  
‘Ham _n_ et?’ Martha repeated. 

‘What's wrong with that?’ asked Shakespeare, a little offended. 

‘Anyway, time we were off,’ said the Doctor. He picked up the crystal ball that contained the trapped Carrionites. ‘I've got a nice attic in the TARDIS where this lot can scream for all eternity. We should really be getting back to Freedonia.’ 

‘You mean travel on through time and space,’ said Shakespeare matter-of-factly.  
  
The Doctor seemed just as stunned as Rose was at the playwright’s deductions. ‘You what?’ he asked.  
  
‘You're from another world like the Carrionites, and Martha and Rose are from the future. It's not hard to work out.’  
  
‘That's… incredible,’ said the Doctor. ‘You are incredible.’ 

‘We're alike in many ways, Doctor, although very different in others,’ said Shakespeare before turning to Martha. ‘Martha, let me say goodbye to you in a new verse. A sonnet for my Dark Lady.’ The Doctor and Martha glanced at each other over the top of Shakespeare’s head. Rose figured she had just missed another Shakespeare reference.

Shakespeare began to recite his sonnet. ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate-’ 

He was cut off by two actors bursting through the theatre doors. 

‘Will!’ they shouted. 

‘Will, you'll never believe it. She's here! She's turned up!’ said one.

‘We're the talk of the town. She heard about last night. She wants us to perform it again,’ said the other.

‘Who does?’ asked Rose. 

‘Her Majesty. She's here.’  
  
Trumpets started to sound as the actors parted to allow Queen Elizabeth to enter the Globe, followed by two guards.

‘Queen Elizabeth the First!’ said the Doctor in excitement. 

‘Doctor?’ said the Queen, sounding less than pleased.

The Doctor’s face fell. ‘What?’

She looked at Rose. ‘And his mistress.’ 

‘What?’ said Rose, now as shocked as the Doctor.

‘My sworn enemies.’  
  
‘What?’ shouted Rose and the Doctor together.

‘Off with their heads!’  
  
‘What?’  
  
‘Never mind what,’ said Martha. ‘Just run!’

The three shouted their goodbyes to Shakespeare as they made a hasty exit through the back stage doors. Rose could hear the playwright laughing as the guards chased them.

They ran through the streets and to the TARDIS.

‘Stop in the name of the Queen!’ shouted one of the guards. 

‘What have you done to upset her?’ asked Martha. 

‘How should I know?’ said the Doctor. ‘We haven't even met her yet. That's time travel for you. Still, can't wait to find out.’

The Doctor fished out his TARDIS key and let Martha and Rose in first. 

‘Something to look forward to,’ said Rose. She was a bit curious about the whole “mistress” thing. 

The Doctor ran inside and shut the door just as an arrow thudded into it. ‘That was a close one,’ he said, making his way to the controls. He pressed a few buttons and flicked a few switches and the room filled with the familiar groaning sound as the TARDIS left Elizabethan London. ‘So, where to now, then?’ he asked.

‘I was thinking of taking a shower, actually,’ said Rose, looking down at her two-day old clothes. ‘We haven’t even shown Martha her room yet.’

‘I’ve got a room?’ asked Martha and the Doctor gave her a look that Rose was all too familiar with. It was the just-dribbled-all-over-your-shirt look.

‘Of course you have,’ he said. ‘You didn’t think we were going to make you sleep on the metal grating, did you?’

‘Well, I don’t know how big this thing is,’ said Martha defensively.

Rose realised that this was her best chance to clear the air with their new companion. ‘The TARDIS gives everyone a room,’ she said. ‘I can show you if you want?’

Martha seemed unsure but accepted the offer and the two women headed towards the door at the end of the room.

‘Don’t take too long,’ shouted the Doctor as the door swung shut behind them.

\----

Rose watched Martha look around her new room. It was a bit bland but no doubt Martha would add her own personal touch soon enough.

‘There should be some clothes in the cupboard and drawers,’ said Rose, pointing to the wooden furniture. ‘But there’s also a huge wardrobe two floors down. Its handy if you ever want to dress up.’ Rose smiled a little at the memory of her first trip to the past. She had had a lot of fun trying on different outfits.

‘Thanks,’ said Martha, looking a little awkward.

‘And the kitchen is just down the hall from the console room.’ Martha nodded and the awkwardness in the room gained in intensity. Rose bit her lip nervously. She wasn’t sure how to start this conversation. 

‘Well, I’ll let you get to it, then,’ she said, giving up. She turned to leave but she had only made it two steps before she turned back. ‘About a year ago, me and the Doctor came across one of his old friends,’ she said as she walked back into Martha’s room and sat on the bed.

‘What?’ asked Martha, confused.

‘Sarah Jane, that was her name. Amazing woman but the thing is, I didn’t see it at first.’

‘Is this going anywhere?’ asked Martha, crossing her arms.

‘I was too busy being jealous and petty to even notice. We spent a lot of our time bickering and competing. I don’t want to make that mistake again.’ 

Martha’s expression softened as understanding dawned on her. She uncrossed her arms and sat next to Rose on the bed. ‘You’re in love with him,’ she said. Rose didn’t answer, which was as good a confirmation as any. ‘I figured as much. You’re still wearing your fake wedding ring.’

Rose looked down at her hand where the bio-damper was still on her finger. ‘I hadn’t even realised,’ she said truthfully. She had totally forgotten about it, barely even noticing the extra weight on her finger. Or maybe she subconsciously wanted to pretend for a bit longer.

She reluctantly pulled the ring off and put it in her pocket.

‘The point is,’ she continued, wanting to direct Martha’s attention away from the ring, ‘that I don’t want to be rivals like me and Sarah Jane were at first. I would much rather just skip to the being friends part.’

‘Why would you be worried about me?’ asked Martha, genuinely curious. ‘I mean, you and the Doctor seem like a pretty done deal. You’re the one he just shared a room with for two nights.’

‘That was just to make sure you didn't feel uncomfortable, I think.’

‘But even so… why would you think I would be a rival?’

‘So, you’re telling me you don’t fancy him?’ asked Rose disbelievingly.

Martha looked away, fidgeting awkwardly. ‘No, I do’ she admitted, ‘It's kind of hard not to.' Rose nodded in agreement. 'But he doesn’t see me. Not with you around.'

Rose bit her lip nervously. She hadn’t really wanted to mention the kiss but it would seem that she was going to have to. ‘I saw you,’ she said. ‘In the hospital, just after I left to get the sonic screwdriver. I looked back. I saw him kiss you.’

Martha looked down at her hands. ‘That was nothing,’ she insisted but she didn’t look too happy about it.

‘It didn’t look like nothing,’ said Rose. ‘From where I was standing it definitely looked like something.’

‘It was a genetic transfer, or whatever he called it,’ explained Martha, looking up to face Rose. ‘When the Judoon scanned me, their scanners got confused and they had to double-check to make sure I was human. That’s why he kissed me, to buy himself some time.’

That did sound like something the Doctor would do but Rose wasn’t convinced. ‘Then why did he send me away?’ she asked.

Martha sighed. ‘I don’t know.’

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Rose spoke up. ‘I’m sorry for not being there to greet you onto the TARDIS.’

Martha gave her a half smile. ‘That’s okay,’ she said.

‘So, what say we put this behind us and start again.’ Rose held out her hand for Martha to shake. ‘Hi. I’m Rose Tyler.’

Martha gave her an amused look. ‘Martha Jones,’ she said, taking Rose’s hand.

‘Nice to meet you Martha Jones.’

‘You too,’ Martha chuckled.

‘So, what do you reckon? Friend instead of rivals?’

Martha nodded. ‘Friends,’ she agreed.

‘Good,’ said Rose happily before jumping up off of the bed. ‘I should really let you get changed now. I could really use a shower after two days in a time without indoor plumbing.’

‘Yeah I know the feeling,’ said Martha.

Rose pointed to her on suite. ‘Your bathroom is through there but careful with the shampoo. There are a lot of different scents in the universe and not all of them are nice.’

Martha made a face. ‘I might have to stock up on my own next time we are in the 21st century.’

‘Probably best.’

Martha turned back to face Rose. ‘Thanks,’ she said, a genuine friendly smile on her face.

‘You’re very welcome, Martha Jones.’

Rose left Martha to it and headed towards her own room. It was like a weight had been lifted off her. She still felt that spark of jealously (she doubted it would totally disappear anytime soon) but at least now she knew that her and Martha were on equal footing. Putting her feelings towards the Doctor aside, Rose was quite looking forward to having another friend to talk to. Now that her Mum and Mickey were gone, she didn’t really have anyone apart from the Doctor. Sure, there was still Shareen and Keisha, but their friendship wasn’t what it was. They had all grown up too much (or in Shareen’s case, not at all) for it to stay as strong as it once was. Sarah Jane had offered to be someone to talk to if she needed it but Rose didn’t want to impose. Sarah was busy living her life. As was Jack, though God knows where and with whom.

Rose entered her room and pulled the bio-damper out of her pocket. She held it up to look at before putting it in her bedside drawer. No matter which one of them the Doctor chose, Rose was determined to make this friendship work.


	10. Gridlock

Martha wandered down the halls of the TARDIS, heading towards the control room. She was very tempted to go find out just how big the time ship was but figured there was a real chance of her getting lost so thought it best to wait until she had a guide. Maybe, she’d ask the Doctor later.

If you’d asked her yesterday, Martha wouldn’t of thought she had a chance in hell with the Doctor but now she wasn’t so sure. She had been so convinced that, despite the kiss, the Doctor and Rose were together (if not officially) and that was that. But Rose herself didn’t seem to agree, which begged the question, _why?_ There must be some reason for Rose to doubt the (what Martha thought were) obvious feelings the Doctor had towards her. Maybe he had done something or said something along the way. Maybe he just liked to send mixed signals. Maybe those signals weren’t even intentional, he wasn’t human after all.

Martha shook her thoughts away, there was really no use trying to understand the Doctor. Rose had been around him for a while now and even she still had trouble. Whatever was going to happen with the Doctor would be his decision, Martha wasn’t going to try and influence it. Rose had said that she didn’t want to be rivals and Martha was quite happy to oblige.

She walked into the control room to find the Doctor and Rose sitting on the jump seat, brainstorming ideas of where to go next. The Doctor looked up at the sound of her footsteps and grinned widely. It just wasn’t fair, thought Martha. How could she not fancy him when he looked at her like that?

‘Martha!’ he said and he jumped up and started to press buttons on the console. ‘Ready for your next adventure?’

‘As I’ll ever be,’ said Martha. 

‘How about we go see a different planet this time?’ 

‘Can we go to yours?’ She missed the flicker of sadness that passed over the Doctor’s face.

‘Ah, there's plenty of other places,’ he said. 

‘Come on, though. I mean, planet of the Time Lords. That's got to be worth a look. What's it like?’ 

‘Well, it's beautiful, yeah.’ 

‘Is it like, you know, outer space cities, all spires and stuff?’ 

‘I suppose it is.’ 

Martha noticed that Rose had stayed strangely silent. ‘Come on, Rose. What’s it like? Great big temples and cathedrals?’ 

‘Yeah,’ said the Doctor before Rose could answer. 

‘Lots of planets in the sky?’ 

‘The sky's a burnt orange,’ said the Doctor with a far-off look in his eye, ‘with the Citadel enclosed in a mighty glass dome, shining under the twin suns. Beyond that, the mountains go on forever. Slopes of deep red grass, capped with snow.’ Martha listened in awe. It sounded beautiful.

‘Can we go there?’ she asked. 

The Doctor straightened up and returned to pressing buttons on the console. ‘Nah,’ he said. ‘Where's the fun for me? I don't want to go home. We can go somewhere else.’

Martha realised that she wasn’t going to get anywhere with this so she let it drop. ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘But somewhere nice, yeah? Not too out there. I don’t think I’m ready for a planet of man-eating lizard people just yet.’

The Doctor glanced at Rose and they smiled at each other. ‘I know just the place,’ said the Doctor.

\----

Martha walked out of the TARDIS and into a grimy looking alley. Rain was pouring down heavily. ‘Oh, that's nice,’ she said sarcastically. 

‘A bit of rain never hurt anyone,’ said the Doctor, putting his coat over his head. ‘Come on, let's get under cover!’

The three of them ran down the alley and out onto a street. ‘Well, it looks like the same old Earth to me,’ said Martha.

‘It’s the year five billion and fifty-three,’ said the Doctor. ‘This is New Earth. Second hope of mankind. Fifty thousand light years from your old world, and we're right in the middle of New New York. Although, technically it's the fifteenth New York from the original, so it's New New New New New New New New New New New New New New York.’

‘That’s a lot of New’s.’

‘Are you sure, though?’ asked Rose. 

‘Of course I’m sure,’ said the Doctor sounding somewhat offended. He made his way to a computer screen on the wall. ‘Hold on, hold on. Let's have a look.’ He pointed his sonic screwdriver at the monitor and gave it a whack and it came to life. A pretty blonde appeared on the screen. She reminded Martha of a weather girl.

‘And the driving should be clear and easy, with fifteen extra lanes open for the New New Jersey expressway,’ said the woman on the screen. Traffic, not weather. Close enough.

The picture changed to a beautiful view of green hills with buildings in the background. Futuristic cars were flying to and from what Martha assumed was New New York. ‘Oh, that's more like it,’ said the Doctor happily before turning to Rose. ‘See, I told you we were in the right place.’ 

‘That's the definitely the view we had last time,’ said Rose. ‘So what’s this then? The slums?’ 

‘This must be the lower levels, down in the base of the tower,’ said the Doctor, looking around. ‘Some sort of under-city.’  
  
Martha and Rose glanced at each other. ‘So the slums, then.’ said Martha.

‘Oh this is much more interesting,’ said the Doctor. ‘It's all cocktails and glitter up there. This is the real city.’ 

Martha couldn’t help smiling at the Doctor’s enthusiasm. ‘You'd enjoy anything.’  
  
The Doctor smiled widely. ‘That's me. Ah, the rain's stopping. Better and better.’

They made their way back onto the street. ‘So you two have been here before then?’ asked Martha. 

‘About a year ago,’ said Rose. ‘Had a bit of trouble in the hospital.’

‘What kind of trouble?’

‘Cats farming people so that they could cure any known disease in the universe,’ said the Doctor.

‘And don’t forget the bitchy trampoline,’ said Rose.

The Doctor’s expression darkened. ‘Hard not to,’ he said. His mood did another one of its abrupt changes and in a nanosecond he was smiling again. ‘But we sorted it all out in the end.’

Suddenly a panel in the far wall opened and a man popped his head out. ‘Oh! You should have said. How long you been there?’ he asked. ‘Happy. You want Happy.’

More panels started to open all over the street and people started yelling to each other. 

‘Customers. Customers! We've got customers!’

All the voices started to mix together as they each tried to sell their products. Although, Martha couldn’t quite work out what those products were. The people just seemed to be shouting out the names of different emotions.

‘Are they selling drugs?’ she asked. 

‘I think they're selling moods,’ said the Doctor. 

‘Same thing, isn't it?’ 

A woman in rags came into view and all the shopkeepers turned their attention towards her, each trying to beckon the woman to buy from them. The woman walked over to one of the shops. ‘I want to buy Forget,’ she said. She sounded broken. 

‘I’ve got Forget, my darling,’ said the shopkeeper sweetly. ‘What strength? How much do you want forgetting?’ 

‘It's my mother and father. They went on the motorway.’

‘Oh, that's a swine. Try this. Forget Forty-Three. That's two credits.’ 

The Doctor, Martha and Rose walked over to the woman. ‘Sorry, but hold on a minute,’ said the Doctor. ‘What happened to your parents?’ 

‘They drove off,’ said the woman as though it explained everything. 

‘But they might drive back,’ said Rose. 

‘Everyone goes to the motorway in the end. I've lost them.’ The woman handed the money to the shopkeeper and took what looked like a nicotine patch.  
  
‘But they can't have gone far,’ said the Doctor. ‘You could find them. No. No, no, don't.’ The woman ignored the Doctor and put the patch on her neck. Her eyes clouded over for a moment and her expression shifted. 

‘I'm sorry, what were you saying?’ she asked.

‘Your parents,’ said Rose. ‘You said they went on the motorway.’ 

‘Did they? That's nice. I'm sorry, I won't keep you.’ She walked dazedly down the street. 

‘So that's the human race five billion years in the future?’ said Martha. ‘Off their heads on chemicals?’

She went to go follow the girl and the Doctor ran after her. ‘This isn’t normal,’ he said. ‘This-’

A scream caused the Doctor and Martha to stop and whip their heads around to face the shop they had just left. A man was holding Rose in a tight grip and a woman was pointing a gun at Martha and the Doctor. All the shops quickly closed their hatches. The man holding Rose was yelling apologies as he started to drag her away. ‘I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry. We just need three, that's all.’

Three for what, wondered Martha briefly but she was more concerned with the gun the woman was holding. Whatever they needed Rose for they were willing to go to great lengths to get it. 

‘Let her go!’ shouted the Doctor angrily. ‘I'm warning you, let her go! Whatever you want, I can help. All of us can help. But first you've got to let her go.’  
  
‘I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. Sorry,’ said the woman as the pair dragged Rose through a door, closing it behind them. 

The Doctor ran to the door and tried to open it but it was locked. He fumbled around for his sonic screwdriver. ‘Come on, come on,’ he muttered. After what felt like a lifetime, he pulled out the screwdriver and pointed it to the door. The tip glowed blue and Martha heard the sound of lock clicking. Wasting no time, the Doctor opened the door and rushed forwards.

They ran through a hallway until they reached another alley. A black vehicle was just rising up into the air. The Doctor began to run down the stairs but it was too late. The vehicle sped down the alley; there was no hope in catching it on foot.

‘ROSE!” shouted the Doctor desperately.

The Doctor turned on his heel and stormed back up the stairs. Martha backed up a bit at the look on his face. To say he was angry would be an understatement. He was _furious_.

Martha followed him back to the street. ‘We’ll find her,’ she said, trying to sound comforting and reassuring.

‘I know,’ said the Doctor determinedly but Martha could sense a hint of fear in the words. He wasn’t just angry; he was scared.

Whatever hopes Martha had of a relationship with the Doctor dissolved in an instant. Despite his mixed signals, there was no denying the truth now. It was a good thing that she and Rose had decided not be in competition, she thought. Rose had won before she even knew she was playing.

The Doctor banged angrily on one of the shop’s panels. ‘Open up!’ he yelled.

The hatch opened and the shopkeeper smiled. ‘Thought you'd come back,’ she said. ‘Do you want some happy Happy?’ 

‘Those people, who were they? Where did they take her?’ 

‘They've taken her to the motorway,’ said one of the other shopkeepers who had opened their hatch at the sound of the Doctor’s shouting.  
  
‘Looked like carjackers to me,’ said the first shopkeeper. 

‘I'd give up now, darling,’ said another. ‘You won't see her again.’ 

The Doctor’s fear became more and more evident as each shopkeeper spoke. And as his fear grew, so did Martha’s. She was confident that the Doctor would do everything in his power to get Rose back, but what if it wasn’t enough? 

‘Used to be thriving, this place,’ said one of the shopkeepers. ‘You couldn't move. But they all go to the motorway in the end.’  
  
‘He kept on saying they needed three,’ said Martha. ‘What did he mean, three?’ 

‘It's the car-sharing policy, to save fuel,’ explained the first shopkeeper. ‘You get special access if you're carrying three adults.’ 

‘This motorway. How do I get there?’ asked the Doctor. 

‘Straight down the alley, keep going to the end. You can’t miss it.’ The Doctor started to walk away but the woman called out to him. ‘Tell you what. How about some happy Happy? Then you'll be smiling, my love.’

The Doctor turned back to face the street. ‘Word of advice,’ he said, his voice low. ‘All of you. Cash up, close down and pack your bags.’ 

‘Why's that, then?’ 

‘Because as soon as I've found Rose, alive and well. And I will find her alive and well. Then I'm coming back, and this street is closing tonight!’ And with that he stalked down the street towards the motorway.

\----

Rose stretched her arms out as she awoke from a dreamless sleep. Her arm hit a wall and she frowned. She opened her eyes and found that she wasn’t in her room but rather in a vehicle of some sorts. The events of the previous few hours came back to her and she realised she must be in one of those flying cars. She pulled off the patch on her neck and looked down at it. It had one word on it, _Sleep_.

Her kidnappers were talking at the front of the car, something about clear skies and jobs. They hadn’t noticed that Rose was awake yet. Rose’s eyes rested on the gun on the ledge next to her. The gun that had recently been pointed at the Doctor and Martha.

Rose wondered where her two friends were. No doubt the Doctor was trying to get her back but Rose had no idea how long she had been gone. For all she knew, she could be half a planet away from the Doctor. With this in mind, she grabbed the gun and pointed it at the driver. ‘Take me back,’ she demanded. ‘Take me back right now! I don’t want to use this and I won’t as long as you take me back to the Doctor.’

The woman looked at her in sympathy. ‘I'm sorry. That's not a real gun,’ she said. Rose took a closer inspection of the weapon. Sure enough, it was a fake. ‘Where do you get a gun from, these days? I wouldn't even know how to fire.’ 

Rose put the gun down. ‘Neither would I,’ she admitted. ‘Not accurately, anyway.’

‘What's your name?’ asked the woman.

‘Rose.’ 

‘Well, I'm Cheen,’ said the woman, ‘and this is Milo. And I swear we're sorry. We're really, really sorry. We just needed access to the fast lane, but I promise, as soon as we arrive, we'll drop you off and you can go back and find your friend.’ 

‘You’d really let me go? Just like that?’

‘I swear! Look.’ Cheen pulled her hair back and Rose saw she had one of those patches attached to her neck. This one read _Honesty_.

‘Okay, going to the fast lane then,’ said Rose. ‘So we’re on the motorway, yeah?’ Cheen nodded. ‘The motorway that nobody comes back from?’ 

‘We’re different,’ said Milo. ‘We’re going on the fast lane, which make our journey so much faster. We're going out to Brooklyn. Everyone says the air's so much cleaner, and we couldn't stay in Pharmacy Town, because…’ He trailed off, looking at Cheen affectionately and putting a hand on her knee.

‘Well, because of me,’ said Cheen, smiling. ‘I'm pregnant. We only discovered it last week. Scan says it's going to be a boy.’ Milo made a little celebratory gesture. He was obviously happy to be having a son. Cheen laughed.

‘Look, that’s great and I’m happy for you and everything… but you’re still kidnappers.’

‘Oh, we're not kidnappers. Not really.’

‘What do you call that back there then?’ asked Rose in astonishment. ‘How long am I going to be stuck here, anyway?’

‘This'll be as fast as we can,’ said Milo. ‘We'll take the motorway to the Brooklyn flyover, and then after that it's going to take awhile, because then there's no fast lane, just ordinary roads, but at least it's direct.’

‘How long?’ repeated Rose.

‘It's only ten miles,’ said Cheen.

‘ _How long?_ ’ 

‘About six years.’

Rose’s jaw dropped. ‘Six years!’ 

‘Be just in time for him to start school,’ said Cheen to Milo and they both giggled happily.

‘Six years to do just ten miles?’ said Rose. She was still trying to get her head around the fact that she could be away from the Doctor and the TARDIS for six whole years. ‘Why does it take so long?’

‘Just the congestion,’ said Milo. ‘It’s been that way for years, as long as anyone can remember.’

Rose got up from the bed and peered out through the front windscreen. There were rows and rows of vehicles, as far as the eye could see. ‘How many cars are out there?’ she asked. 

‘I don't think anyone knows,’ said Cheen before pulling out a biscuit. ‘Here we go. Hungry?’

Rose hadn’t realised it before but she was starving. ‘Thanks,’ she said taking the food and quickly having a bite. It was okay, a bit bland. ‘So the whole under-city is in total gridlock?’

Milo nodded. ‘Everywhere but the fast lane.’

‘How far away is it?’

‘Oh, it's right at the bottom, underneath the traffic jam. But not many people can afford three passengers, so it's empty down there. Rumour has it you can reach up to thirty miles per hour.’

‘That’s… wow… thirty.’ said Rose, feigning an impressed tone. She went to stand up but bumped her head on the roof. ‘Ow! How do you two live in this thing? It’s tiny!’ 

‘Oh, we stocked up,’ said Cheen. ‘Got self-replicating fuel, muscle stimulants for exercise, and there's a chemical toilet at the back. And all waste products are recycled as food.’ 

Rose looked down worriedly at the biscuit she had just taken another bite out of. She slowly lowered it away from her mouth and put it on a ledge.

‘Oh, another gap,’ said Milo happily. ‘This is brilliant.’ 

A computerized voice filtered through the car’s speakers. ‘Car sign in.’

Milo grabbed the microphone of the transceiver and spoke into it. ‘Car Four Six Five Diamond Six, on descent to fast lane, thank you very much.’

‘Please drive safely,’ said the computer and Milo and Cheen’s smiles grew wider.

\----

It was a slow decent down to the fast lane. Agonisingly slow but Milo and Cheen seemed to think they were making excellent progress. ‘See?’ said Milo, excitedly pointing at the sceen. ‘Another ten layers to go. We're scorching.’

A strange rumbling sound wiped the smiles off their faces. It seemed to be coming from somewhere underneath them.

‘What's that?’ asked Rose. ‘It's coming from underneath us.’ 

‘It's that noise, isn't it?’ said Cheen. Rose did not like how worried she sounded. ‘It's like Kate said. The stories, they're true.’  
  
‘What stories?’ 

‘It's the sound of the air vents. That's all,’ said Milo. ‘The exhaust fumes travel down, so at the base of the tunnel they've got air vents.’

Rose definitely wasn’t convinced but Cheen seemed to trust her partner. Her smile was back in place. ‘No, but the stories are much better,’ she said. ‘They say people go missing on the motorway. Some cars just vanish, never to be seen again, because there's something living down there in the smoke.’ She spoke as if she was telling a ghost story around a campfire. ‘Something huge and hungry. And if you get lost on the road, it's waiting for you.’

Another sound came from below. This time Rose thought it definitely sounded like a roar. 

‘But like I said. Air vents,’ said Milo but without the excitement he had previously shown. ‘Going down to the next layer.’  
  
‘They can’t be very powerful air vents then,’ said Rose. ‘Nothing but exhaust fumes out there. 

Cheen and Milo looked at each other uneasily, listening to the distant rumblings. ‘Nah. Kid stuff,’ said Milo, though Rose wasn’t sure who he was trying to reassure. He grabbed the microphone and spoke into it once more. ‘Car four six five diamond six, on descent.’

They descended down the next few layers in silence. Rose sat on the bed, desperately trying to think of a way to get back to the Doctor and Martha. The ever nearing rumbles from below didn’t help.

With a beep, the car monitor changed its picture. It now displayed the blonde woman they had seen on the one in the street this morning. Rose got up to get a better view. ‘This is Sally Calypso,’ said the woman on the screen, ‘and it's that time again. The sun is blazing high in the sky over the New Atlantic, the perfect setting for the daily contemplation. This is for all of you out there on the roads. We're so sorry. Drive safe.’

A choir song started to play and Milo and Cheen joined in. It was beautiful.

‘Fast lane access,’ said the computer just as the song had finished. ‘Please drive safely.’ 

‘We made it,’ said Milo. ‘The fast lane.’ He steered the car down to the final lane. There were no other cars in sight. Though, the heavy fog may have had something to do with that. 

\----

Brooklyn didn’t seem to be as easy to get to as Milo had made it out to be. Every turn off to the Brooklyn tunnel seemed to be closed. 

Cheen was starting to panic. ‘What do we do?’ she asked.

‘We'll keep going round,’ said Milo. ‘We'll do the whole loop, and by the time we come back round, they'll be open.’ Rose didn’t think that was very likely but she didn’t get to voice her opinion. The sudden shake of the vehicle cut off any thoughts about Brooklyn. The rumbling noises were even louder now. Whatever they were, they were close.

‘You still calling that air vents, Milo?’ asked Rose. 

‘What else could it be?’ said Milo. He didn’t sound very sure of himself.

More growls.

‘What the hell is that?’ said Cheen. 

‘It's just the hydraulics.’ 

‘It’s alive,’ said Rose.

‘It's all exhaust fumes out there,' said Milo. ‘Nothing could breathe in that.’

Rose was just about to point out that there were many things that could live in that but she was cut off by the communicator crackling. 

‘Calling Car four six five diamond six. Repeat, calling Car four six five diamond six.’ 

Milo grabbed the microphone. ‘This is Car four six five diamond six. Who's that? Where are you?’

‘I'm in the fast lane,’ said the voice, ‘about fifty yards behind. Can you get back up? Can you get off the fast lane?’ 

‘We only have permission to go down,’ said Milo. ‘We need-’

‘The Brooklyn Flyover. It's closed. Go back up.’

‘We can't. We'll just go round.’

‘Don't you understand? They're closed. They're always closed.’ 

Cheen was really starting to panic now. Rose put a hand on her shoulder. ‘We’ll be alright,’ she said.

‘We're stuck down here,’ continued the driver of the other car, ‘and there's something else out there in the fog. Can’t you hear it?’

Another roar echoed through the car.

‘A bit hard not to,’ said Rose.

‘That's the air vents,’ said Milo. 

‘Jehovah, what are you? Some stupid kid? Get out of here!’ cried the other driver. There was a crash and a roar. People in the other car began to scream.

‘What was that?’ asked Milo.

‘I can't move!’ said the other driver. 'They've got us!’ 

Rose took the microphone out of Milo’s hand. ‘What's got you?’ she asked. 

‘Hang on.’ There were more crashes and screams. ‘It's here. Just drive, you idiots! Get out of here!’

More crashes.

‘Can you hear me? Hello?’ There was no answer. Rose handed the microphone back to Milo. ‘I think we had better do as she said.’ 

‘But where do we go?’ asked Milo. 

‘Just straight ahead. Fast as you can!’ Milo obliged.

‘What is it?’ asked Cheen, tears falling down her face. Rose gripped her shoulder tighter. ‘What's out there? What is it?’

Whatever it was, it didn’t seem to want to give them up. The car was still shaking like mad.

‘Go faster!’ cried Cheen. 

‘I'm at top speed!’ Milo cried back at her. 

More thumps shook the vehicle. ‘I think there’s more than one out there,’ said Rose.

Milo tapped the screen. ‘No access above,’ said the computer. 

‘But this is an emergency!’ he shouted. 

What looked like a Police emblem showed on the screen. ‘Thank you for your call,’ said a male voice. ‘You have been placed on hold.’ 

Suddenly Rose got an idea. An idea that could go very badly if she was wrong but they had to try something. Running obviously wasn’t working. ‘Turn everything off,’ she said. 

Milo looked at her like she was insane. ‘You've got to be joking.’ 

‘Look at all the fog out there. Can you see anything?’

‘No,’ said Milo after a pause.

‘Then how can whatever is chasing us see? Maybe it’s the sound, or the heat, or the light. I don't know but if we turn everything off, maybe they won’t be able to find us.’ 

‘What if you're wrong?’ 

‘It can't be worse than this! Just do it!’

Milo seemed to think about it and Rose thought he might not go with her plan but with a nod from Cheen, he turned the power off. The lights dimmed and the noise outside slowly quieted to a small rumble. 

‘They've stopped,’ said Cheen.

‘Yeah, but they're still out there,’ said Milo. 

Cheen looked to Rose. ‘How did you think of that?’

‘I don’t know,’ shrugged Rose. ‘Just seemed logical I guess. The only thing is, I don’t know what to do next.’

‘Well, you'd better think of something, because we've lost the aircon,’ said Milo. ‘If we don't switch the engines back on, we won't be able to breathe.’

‘How long have we got?’ 

‘Eight minutes, maximum.’

Rose sighed. ‘This is usually the point where the Doctor thinks of some clever plan to fix everything.’

‘The Doctor, was that the man you were with?’ asked Cheen. Rose nodded. ‘He looked kind of nice.’

‘Kind of nice doesn’t even cover it,’ laughed Rose.

‘Are you and him…?’

Rose shook her head. ‘I travel with him. And Martha. We see so many things, go to so many places. I hope he’s all right. He’s not too good on his own, although, he has Martha now.’ For the first time since Martha joined the TARDIS Rose was properly glad to have her along. She didn’t want to imagine what the Doctor would be like if he was on his own. She brushed a tear away. ‘Wherever he is, I promise you, he is doing something to help you all.’

‘How can you be so sure?’ 

‘Because I know him and I’ve seen the things he can do. You've got your faith and your songs, and I've got the Doctor.’

‘How much air have we got left?’ asked Cheen.

‘Not enough,’ said Milo.

‘I guess there’s nothing else for it then,’ said Rose. Milo nodded and turned the car back on.

‘Systems back online.’ 

‘Good luck,’ said Milo.

‘You too,’ said Rose and the car began to fly just as the roars started up again outside.

More thuds shook the car; it seemed to go on forever. Rose wasn’t sure if the car would take much more. Suddenly the monitor came to life but it wasn’t Sally on the screen this time. It was the Doctor! Rose thought she might cry from joy.

‘Sorry, no Sally Calypso,’ said the Doctor. ‘She was just a hologram. My name's the Doctor. And this is an order. Everyone drive up. Right now. I’ve opened the roof of the motorway. Come on. Throttle those engines. Drive up. All of you. The whole under-city. Drive up, drive up, drive up! Fast! We’ve got to clear that fast lane. Drive up and get out of the way. Oi! Car four six five diamond six. Rose! Drive up!’

‘See! I told you he would think of something,’ said Rose happily.

‘But we can't go up!’ said Milo. ‘We'll hit the layer!’ 

‘Didn’t you hear him? He’s getting all the cars to drive up. He’s clearing the way for us!’

‘You've got access above,’ said the Doctor. ‘Now go!’

Milo did as he was told and steered the car towards the upper lanes and out of reach of whatever was chasing them. They drove out of the fog and into the sunlight.

‘It's daylight,’ said Cheen with tears in her eyes. ‘Oh my God, that's the sky. The real sky.’

‘He did it,’ she Rose proudly and she watched fondly as Cheen leaned over to kiss Milo.

‘You keep driving, Brannigan,’ said the Doctor. Rose assumed that that was a friend he had made along the way. ‘All the way up. Because it's here, just waiting for you. The city of New New York, and it's yours. And Martha, don't forget my coat. And Car four six five diamond six, I've sent you a flight path. Come to the Senate.’

‘On our way,’ said Rose. 

‘It's been quite a while since I saw you, Rose Tyler.’

The transmission cut off and the flight path showed on the screen. Rose was going back.

\----

Cheen and Milo dropped Rose off at the Senate. ‘Good luck with everything,’ she said as she got out of the car.

‘You too,’ said Cheen. ‘And thank you.’

They drove off just as Martha got out of another car a few metres down, the Doctor's brown coat in hand. She said her goodbyes to the driver and shut the door behind her.

‘Rose!’ she shouted once she had looked up. She ran over. ‘Are you okay? Did they hurt you?’

‘Nah, I’m fine,’ said Rose. ‘They were nice.’

‘Nice kidnappers?’

Rose shrugged. ‘It happens.’

They made their way into the Senate together. There were skeletons and cobwebs everywhere and Rose wondered what could have possibly happened to cause it. They rounded a corner and saw the Doctor kneeling next to the Face of Boe. Broken glass littered the floor and Rose realised that the Face of Boe was dying. He needed that tank and there was no way they could make another one in time.

Next to the Doctor, stood a cat nun. Rose couldn’t be sure but she thought it might be one from the last time they were in New New York. She seemed upset at the Face of Boe’s passing. ‘My lord gave his life to save the city, and now he's dying,’ she said.

‘No, don't say that,’ said the Doctor. ‘Not old Boe. Plenty of life left.’

‘It's good to breathe the air once more,’ said the Face of Boe.

Martha looked at Rose quizzically. ‘Telepathy,’ she whispered, answering Martha’s unasked question. 

The Doctor still hadn’t noticed them, he was too focused on the Face of Boe and Rose didn’t want to ruin the moment. ‘The legend says that you have lived for billions of years. Isn't that right?’ he said. ‘And you're not about to give up now.'

‘Everything has its time. You know that, old friend, better than most.’ 

‘The legend says more,’ said the nun.

‘Don't,’ said the Doctor. ‘There's no need for that.’ 

‘It says that the Face of Boe will speak his final secret to a traveller.’ 

‘Yeah, but not yet. Who needs secrets, eh?’ 

‘I have seen so much,’ said Boe. ‘Perhaps too much. I am the last of my kind, as you are the last of yours, Doctor.’ 

‘That's why we have to survive. Both of us. Don't go.’ 

‘I must, but it is nice to know that I will be passing with old friends by my side.’ Rose smiled; she had a strange feeling that the Face of Boe meant her and Martha as well as the Doctor. ‘But know this, Time Lord. You are not alone.’

With one last breath, the Face of Boe closed his eyes for the last time and the nun began to cry.

The Doctor stood silently and Rose slowly walked towards him. She slipped his hand into his and he turned to look at her. She gave him the best comforting smile she could muster and he wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug.

‘I thought I’d lost you,’ he whispered.

\----

The Doctor, Rose, and Martha walked along the street that lead to the TARDIS. All the shops were gone. ‘All closed down,’ said the Doctor. 

‘Happy?’ asked Martha.  
  
‘Happy happy. New New York can start again. And they've got Novice Hame. Just what every city needs. Cats in charge. Come on, time we were off.’

The Doctor and Rose made to go but Martha didn’t move. ‘But what did he mean, the Face of Boe?’ she asked. ‘You're not alone.’ 

‘I don't know,’ said the Doctor.

‘Did he mean me?’ asked Rose.

‘Maybe.’ Rose gave him a small smile which he returned. ‘Doesn’t matter. Back to the Tardis, off we go.’ Martha pulled a chair out on to the street and sat down, crossing her arms. The Doctor turned to look at her once more. ‘All right, are you staying?’ he asked.

‘Till you talk to me properly, yes,’ she said. ‘He said last of your kind. What does that mean?’ 

‘It really doesn't matter.’ 

‘You don't talk. You never say. Why not?’

A choir began to sing and the three looked up at the sound. ‘It’s the city,’ said Martha. ‘They’re singing.’

Rose put a hand on the Doctor’s arm and he looked down to face her. ‘Tell her,’ she said.

The Doctor paused for a moment but then turned to face Martha. ‘I lied to you, because I liked it,’ he said. ‘I could pretend. Just for a bit, I could imagine they were still alive, underneath a burnt orange sky. I'm not just a Time Lord. I'm the last of the Time Lords. The Face of Boe was wrong. There's no one else.’

‘What happened?’ asked Martha, unfolding her arms.

The Doctor pulled two more chairs out next to Martha’s and he and Rose sat down. ‘There was a war. A Time War. The last Great Time War. My people fought a race called the Daleks, for the sake of all creation. And they lost. They lost. Everyone lost.’ There was a pause as the Doctor got lost in memory. ‘They're all gone now,’ he said mournfully. ‘My family, my friends, even that sky. Oh, you should have seen it, that old planet. The second sun would rise in the south, and the mountains would shine. The leaves on the trees were silver, and when they caught the light every morning, it looked like a forest on fire. When the autumn came, the breeze would blow through the branches like a song.’

Rose listened in awe. The Doctor had never spoken about his planet before, not properly. It sounded beautiful. Rose put her hand over the Doctor’s and he wound his fingers through hers. She squeezed tightly as he reminisced about the planet she would never get to see.


	11. Pushing Boundaries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a short chapter because I wanted to show a little of the Doctor's thoughts on Rose getting kidnapped. Plus I'm a sucker for tenxrose fluff.

The Doctor wandered the halls of the TARDIS. It had been quite an emotional day all round and the last thing he wanted was to be on his own but Rose had taken Martha to see the laundry room and he hadn’t seen either of them since. That had been an hour ago. He assumed they had each gone to bed. 

He walked past the library but backed up when he noticed that the door was ajar and the light was on. He slowly entered the room and saw Rose curled up on the couch with her nose in a book. ‘What you reading?’ he asked and Rose jumped at the sound.

‘You’re as quiet as a mouse, you are,’ she said. ‘You scared me.’

‘Sorry.’

‘It’s okay.’

The Doctor sat down next to her on the couch and she shifted her legs so she could sit up properly. He could see the book clearly now. ‘Harry Potter?’

Rose smiled. ‘Been wanting to read it again ever since the Carrionites.’

‘Me too,’ said the Doctor, matching her grin and taking the book out of her hands.

‘Oi!’ 

‘What? I was going to read it to you.’

Rose looked up at him with a slightly bewildered expression. 'Okay,' she said after a pause and he began to read. He had only gotten through two paragraphs when Rose cut him off. ‘What do you think he meant?’ she asked. ‘The Face of Boe.’

The Doctor sighed and put the book down. ‘I don’t know,’ he said honestly.

Rose bit her thumbnail in the adorable way she always did when she was nervous. ‘Do you think he meant that there were other Time Lords out there?’

The Doctor paused. It did seem to be heavily implied by the Face of Boe’s words but it was impossible. Wasn’t it? ‘There can’t be,’ he said, not quite being able to hide the sadness from his voice.

Rose put her hand on his like she had done earlier and he once again laced his fingers through hers. It felt so good to be able to hold her hand again. ‘I hate prophecies,’ she said. 'Takes the fun out of everything, knowing what will happen.'

The Doctor chuckled. 'How bout that? The big Bad Wolf doesn't like prophecies.' 

'Bad Wolf was a message, not a prophecy.'

'Neither was what the Face of Boe said.'

'Suppose,' said Rose. 'But it was dangerously close.'

‘The Time Lords had quite a few prophecies actually,’ said the Doctor. ‘Had a chosen Visionary and everything. Though, why a race who can travel through time on a whim would need a fortune teller is beyond me. Never did bother to ask.’ 

‘That doesn’t sound like you,’ said Rose cheekily.

‘I was too busy trying to get away.’ Now that he had opened up a little about his planet, it was like the floodgates had opened and he found himself wanting to share a bit more about his past. He had been holding it all inside for so long now, it felt good to let some of it out.

‘Why did you leave?’

‘The Time Lords, for all their glory, were a stuffy lot. They had so many rules… and I have never been one for rules.’

Rose laughed. ‘Really? I hadn’t noticed.’

‘So I stole a TARDIS and ran way. Haven’t stopped running since.’ He left out the part about being scared shitless. Scared of the prophecies, of the hybrid, of the whole god damn responsibility of it all. _Always the coward_ , he thought. But Rose didn't need to know that.

‘You stole her?’ asked Rose, unaware of his internal brooding.

‘Well, I say _stole_. I borrowed her. I had originally intended to take her back one day.’

‘How long did that last?’

‘About five trips,’ admitted the Doctor and Rose laughed. He couldn’t help but smile at her. His smile faltered as he remembered the events of the day. The sight of her being dragged down an alley pushed itself to the forefront of his mind and he squeezed her hand a little tighter. ‘Are you okay?’ he asked. ‘Really? They didn’t hurt you?’

‘I told you they were nice,’ said Rose softly. She seemed to have sensed his need for reassurance. ‘They just wanted their family to have the best chance they could.’

The Doctor didn’t reply, he just nodded. He didn’t approve of kidnapping, whatever the reason, but Rose seemed to have forgiven her captors. Of course she had. She was still so human, even if she did have the remnants of the time vortex running through her veins. He began to rub small circles over Rose’s thumb with his own. 

They sat like that in comfortable silence for a few minutes before the Doctor let go of Rose’s hand and picked the book back up. ‘Shall I continue?’ he asked.

Rose smiled and, to the Doctor’s great surprise, she leaned her head on his shoulder and snuggled closer to him. ‘Go on then,’ she said.

It was few seconds before the Doctor registered that she wanted him to start reading. He was too focus on how well she fit against his side. He resisted the urge to wrap an arm around her and bring her closer. Too many boundaries had been crossed already and on any other day he may have had the will power to stop them. But right now he was still reeling from the events of the day and almost losing her.

He refocussed his attention on the book in front of him and began to read. It wasn’t long before he heard the soft snores that signalled that Rose had fallen asleep. He allowed himself a minute or two of watching her sleep peacefully on his shoulder before he gently got up and lowered her down on to the couch. He draped a blanket over her smiled down at her sleeping form. He knew just the place to take her to next.


	12. Daleks in Manhattan Part One

Rose followed the Doctor and Martha out of the TARDIS and into the sunshine. She instantly recognised the planet as Earth, nowhere else in the universe seemed to feel the same somehow. 

Martha’s senses weren’t as attuned yet. ‘Where are we?’ she asked. 

‘Ah, smell that Atlantic breeze,’ said the Doctor taking a big sniff of the air. ‘Nice and cold. Lovely. Oh and have you met my friend?’ He turned around and glanced at something behind them. Rose followed his gaze and let out a bark of laughter. 

Martha was in awe. ‘Is that? Oh, my God. That's the Statue of Liberty.’ 

‘Gateway to the New World,’ said the Doctor. ‘Give me you tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free.’ 

‘That's so brilliant. I've always wanted to go to New York. I mean the real New York, not the new, new, new, new, new one.’

‘Me too,’ said Rose. 

‘Well, there's the genuine article,’ said the Doctor, turning around to gaze over the city skyline. ‘So good, they named it twice. Mind you, it was New Amsterdam originally. Harder to say twice. Now wonder it didn't catch on. New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam.’

‘Doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, does it?’ agreed Rose, mentally trying to change the lyrics to the song in her head. 

‘I wonder what year it is,’ said Martha, ‘because look, the Empire State Building's not even finished yet.’ Rose looked over to where she was pointing. The massive building stood high above everything else.

‘Work in progress,’ said the Doctor. ‘Still got a couple floors to go, and if I know my history, that makes the date somewhere around…’

‘November first 1930,’ cut in Martha. 

‘You're getting good at this,’ said the Doctor before noticing the newspaper in her hands. ‘Oh, well that’s just cheating.’

‘Just ‘cause you didn’t think of it first,’ teased Rose. 

The Doctor opened his mouth to retort but Martha cut him off. ‘Eighty years ago,’ she said. ‘It's funny, because you see all those old newsreels all in black and white like it's so far away, but here we are. It's real. It's now.’ 

Rose smiled at Martha’s excitement; she could see why the Doctor always travelled with a companion. Seeing the joy on someone’s face as they saw things they never thought possible, it was almost like you could see it through their eyes as well as your own. ‘So where do you want to go first?’ she asked.

It was the Doctor who answered her. ‘Central Park,’ he said, showing them the newspaper he had taken from Martha.

‘Hooverville Mystery Deepens,’ read Martha. ‘What's Hooverville?’

\----

The Doctor, Rose and Martha walked through Central Park, heading to Hooverville. On the way, the Doctor had explained the origins of the site and its purpose. So many people were left with nothing during the Great Depression and they all ended up in the middle of the park, forming their own society.

They approached the makeshift town of shabby looking tents and Rose felt a wave of sympathy for its residents. She knew what it was like to barely scrape by, she and her mum had had some rough times, but this was something else. People in grubby clothing wandered by, lost in their own thoughts or focused on tasks, others were huddled in front of barrel fires, rubbing their hands together for warmth. Not one person was smiling. Why would they? 

‘Ordinary people lost their jobs,’ said the Doctor. ‘Couldn't pay the rent and they lost everything. There are places like this all over America. No one's helping them. You only come to Hooverville when there's nowhere else to go.’

A commotion up ahead caught the attention of the travellers. Two men were arguing over something and it wasn’t long before a fight broke out. 

A black man appeared and approached the two men. ‘Cut that out! Cut that out right now!’ He stepped in between the two and they both backed off a little.  
  
‘He stole my bread!’ accused one of the men, pointing at the other.

‘That's enough!’ cut in the black man who obviously held some sort of leadership within the community. He turned to the other man. ‘Did you take it?’  
  
‘I don't know what happened. He just went crazy.’ 

The other man made a go of trying to restart the fight but the leader held him back. ‘That's enough!’ He turned to face to supposed thief once more. ‘Now, think real careful before you lie to me.’ He fixed the man with a stern glare and the thief buckled. 

‘I'm starving, Solomon,’ he said. 

Solomon held his hand out and the thief gave him the loaf of bread. ‘We all starving,’ he said. ‘We all got families somewhere.’ Living up to his namesake, he broke the loaf in half and gave a piece to each man. He spoke up to address the crowd that had gathered to watch the ordeal. ‘No stealing and no fighting. You know the rules. Thirteen years ago I fought in the Great War. A lot of us did. And the only reason we got through was because we stuck together. No matter how bad things get, we still act like human beings. It's all we got.’

The crowd dispersed and everybody went their separate ways, some nodding in agreement. Rose had already decided that she liked this Solomon bloke. He had true leadership.

The Doctor obviously thought so too. ‘Come on,’ he said, beckoning her and Martha to follow him. They walked up to Solomon who turned at his approach. ‘I suppose that makes you the boss around here.’

Solomon looked them over with curiosity, obviously noticing the well-kept clothes. Even though Rose was only wearing jeans and a jumper, she still felt severely overdressed. ‘And, er, who might you be?’ he asked. 

‘He's the Doctor. I'm Martha. And this is Rose,’ said Martha. 

Solomon’s surprise was evident on his face. ‘A doctor. Huh. Well, we got stockbrokers, we got a lawyer, but you're the first doctor. Neighbourhood gets classier by the day.’ 

‘What you did back there,’ said Rose. ‘That was amazing.’

‘Its important we stick together,’ said Solomon. ‘If we start to turn on each other, then we are truly lost.’

‘How many people live here?’ asked Martha. 

‘At any one time, hundreds. No place else to go. But I will say this about Hooverville. We are a truly equal society. Black, white, all the same. All starving. So you're welcome, all three of you. But tell me. Doctor, you're a man of learning, right? Explain this to me.’ He beckoned the Doctor to follow him to where they had a perfect view of the Empire State Building. He pointed to it. ‘That there's going to be the tallest building in the world. How come they can do that, when we got people starving in the heart of Manhattan?’ 

The Doctor didn’t have an answer and Solomon walked back to his fire. The Doctor followed him and showed him the newspaper. ‘So, men are going missing. Is this true?’

Solomon nodded. ‘It's true all right.’ 

‘But what does missing mean? Men must come and go here all the time. It's not like anyone's keeping a register.’

Solomon beckoned them into his tent. It was quite sizable as far as tents go, but as a home, not so much. ‘This is different,’ he said as he sat down. 

‘Different how?’ asked Rose. 

‘Someone takes them, at night. We hear something, someone calls out for help. By the time we get there, they're gone like they vanished into thin air.’ 

‘And you're sure someone's taking them?’ asked the Doctor. 

‘Doctor, when you got next to nothing, you hold on to the little you got. Your knife, blanket, you take it with you. You don't leave bread uneaten, fire still burning.’ 

‘Have you been to the police?’ asked Martha. 

‘Yeah, we tried that. Another deadbeat goes missing, big deal.’ Rose understood that. Living on the estate had been rough sometimes and for most of those times, the police didn’t want to know about it. 

‘So the question is,’ said the Doctor, ‘who's taking them and what for?’

Someone outside started calling for Solomon. An attractive young man with chocolate brown hair stuck his head through the tent flap. ‘Solomon, Mister Diagoras is here,’ said the man quickly before rushing back out of the tent. Solomon quickly followed. 

Intrigued by this new development, the Doctor, Rose and Martha left the tent and joined the group outside. They were all listening to a man in a business suit who was flanked by two goons. He reminded Rose of a gangster from one of those old-time movies. By the sound of it, he was looking for workers. ‘I need men,’ said Mister Diagoras. ‘Volunteers. I've got a little work for you and you sure look like you can use the money.’ 

‘Yeah. What is the money?’ asked the young man from before.

‘A dollar a day.’ 

The crowd tittered.

‘What's the work?’ asked Solomon.  
  
‘A little trip down the sewers. Got a tunnel collapsed needs clearing and fixing. Any takers?’ 

‘A dollar a day? That's slave wage. And men don't always come back up, do they.’ 

‘Accidents happen,’ said Diagoras with an air of not caring too much. 

‘What do you mean?’ asked the Doctor. ‘What sort of accidents?’ 

‘You don't need the work? That's fine,’ said Diagoras, deflecting the question. ‘Anybody else?’ The Doctor raised his hand. ‘Enough with the questions.’ 

‘Oh, no, no, no. I'm volunteering. I'll go.’

Rose raised her hand. ‘Me too.’

Martha slowly lifted her hand and faced the Doctor. ‘I'll kill you for this,’ she said. 

‘Anybody else?’ asked Diagoras. The young man from before raised his hand and, with an agitated look, so did Solomon.

\----  
  
Rose descended the ladder that led to the sewers; she could already hear the rats squeaking. The others were waiting at the bottom of the ladder and the Doctor helped her off as she reached the last step. She smiled up at him. ‘Thanks.’

Diagoras wasted no time in giving them directions to the collapsed part of the tunnel. 

‘And when do we get our dollar?’ asked Frank (the attractive young man who had volunteered for the job with them back at Hooverville).

‘When you come back up,’ answered Diagoras. 

‘And if we don't come back up?’ asked the Doctor.  
  
‘Then I got no one to pay.’ 

Rose was liking this Diagoras bloke less and less. 

‘Don't worry, we'll be back,’ said Solomon determinedly and he started to make his way along the tunnel. 

‘Let's hope so,’ muttered Martha as she followed.

Rose waited for the Doctor to finish his staring match with Diagoras before they too followed the work party. ‘I don’t trust him,’ he whispered.

‘Can’t see why,’ said Rose sarcastically.

They caught up to the others a few metres down the tunnel. ‘We just got to stick together,’ said Frank. ‘It's easy to get lost. It's like a huge rabbit warren. You could hide an army down here.’

They walked in silence for a few more minutes before Martha started up some small talk. ‘So what about you, Frank?’ she asked. ‘You're not from around these parts, are you?’ 

‘Oh, you could talk,’ said Frank. ‘No, I'm Tennessee born and bred.’ 

‘So how come you're here?’ 

‘Oh, my daddy died. Mama couldn't afford to feed us all. So, I'm the oldest, up to me to feed myself. So I put on my coat, hitched up here on the railroads. There's a whole lot of runaways in the camp, younger than me, from all over. Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas. Solomon keeps a lookout for us.’ Rose smiled at the man leading the group. Meeting people like him was one of the reasons she loved travelling so much. ‘So, what about you?' asked Frank 'You're a long way from home.’ 

‘Yeah, I'm just a hitcher too,’ said Martha with a quick glance at the Doctor and Rose. 

‘You stick with me, you'll be all right,’ said Frank. 

‘So this Diagoras bloke, who is he then?’ asked the Doctor. 

‘A couple of months ago, he was just another foreman,’ said Solomon. ‘Now, it seems like he's running most of Manhattan.’ 

‘How'd he manage that then?’ asked Rose. ‘What with so many people losing their jobs and everything.’

‘These are strange times. A man can go from being King of the Hill to the lowest of the low overnight. It's just for some folks it works the other way round.’ 

The Doctor held an arm out in front of Rose to stop her. ‘Whoa!’ he said and Rose looked down to where she was about to tread. A glowing green blob was lying on the floor. It looked a bit like a jellyfish. The Doctor leant down for a better look.

‘Is it radioactive or something?’ asked Martha. She shuffled closer to it but quickly retreated, holding her nose. ‘It's gone off, whatever it is.’ The Doctor put on his glasses and picked up the smelly thing. ‘And you've got to pick it up.’ 

The Doctor held it up closer to his nose and for one terrifying moment Rose thought he was going to lick it. He gave it a quick sniff and held it out for examination. ‘Shine your torch through it,’ he said and Rose breathed a sigh of relief and pointed her torch at the blob. ‘Composite organic matter. Martha? Medical opinion?’ 

‘It's not human. I know that,’ said Martha. 

‘No, it's not,’ agreed the Doctor. 

‘Something else that’s worrying,’ said Rose. ‘We’ve been walking for ages now and we haven't see any sign of a collapse. So why did Diagoras send us down here?’ 

‘Where are we now?’ asked Martha. ‘What's above us?’ 

‘Well, we're right underneath Manhattan,’ said the Doctor.

After a few more minutes of walking, they still hadn't seen any sign of any collapse.

‘That Diagoras bloke, was he lying?’ asked Martha.

‘Looks like it,’ said the Doctor not surprised at all. 

‘So why did he want us down here?’ asked Rose, looking around nervously. ‘Some sort of trap?’ 

‘Solomon, I think it's time you took these three back,’ said the Doctor. ‘I'll be much quicker on my own.’

Rose opened her mouth to tell him that in no uncertain terms was she leaving him down here but she didn’t get a chance to get the words out. Instead, she was caught off guard by a sound she hadn’t expected to hear; a pig squealing. 

‘What the hell was that?’ asked Solomon, waving his torch around, trying to find the source of the noise.

‘It sounded like a pig,’ whispered Rose. 

Frank called out to whatever it was and both Rose and Martha shushed him. ‘What if it's one of the folk gone missing?’ he argued but at least he was whispering now. ‘You'd be scared and half mad down here on your own.’ 

‘I would really like to believe that they were still alive,’ started the Doctor but Frank cut him off.

‘They could be. Heck, we ain't seen no bodies down here. Maybe they just got lost.’

More squeals echoed around the tunnel. ‘I know I never heard nobody make a sound like that,’ said Solomon.  
  
‘Where's it coming from?’ asked Frank.

‘I dunno,’ said Rose, ‘but it sounds like there's more than one.’  
  
The Doctor slowly made his way down the tunnel, using his torch to scan the way ahead. ‘This way,’ he said.

Solomon shone his torch down a different tunnel. ‘No, that way,’ he said, pointing at something. The others gathered around him to see what he was indicating; a figure was bundled up beside a wall. Whatever it was, it looked scared. 

‘Are you lost?’ called out Frank. ‘Can you understand me? I've been thinking about folk lost down-’ 

The Doctor put a hand on the young man’s shoulder. ‘It's all right, Frank,’ he said. ‘Just stay back. Let me have a look.’ He slowly moved closer to the creature, Rose not far behind him. ‘There’s no point me telling you to stay back, is there?’ he whispered, not bothering to turn and face her.

‘Nope,’ said Rose and they both edged closer to the creature.

The Doctor called out to it. ‘He's got a point, though, my mate Frank. I'd hate to be stuck down here on my own. We know the way out. Daylight. If you come with us.’

They reached the creature and the Doctor knelt down and shone the light over its face. Rose was right; it was a pig… sort of. It had the face of a pig but it wore human clothes. The thing that got Rose most though was the eyes. They were not a pig’s eyes. They were far too sad. ‘Oh, but what are you?’ asked the Doctor and the creature made a small squeal. 

‘Is that, er, some kind of carnival mask?’ asked Solomon from the other end of the tunnel.

‘No, it's real,’ said the Doctor before addressing the creature once more. ‘I'm sorry. Now listen to me. I promise I can help. Who did this to you?’ 

‘Doctor? Rose? I think you'd better get back here,’ said Martha with panic in her voice. Rose looked up to see more pig men walking towards them. ‘Guys!’ 

‘You know, I think she might have a point there,’ said Rose quickly pulling the Doctor up.

‘Agreed,’ said the Doctor as they slowly backed away from the pigs.

‘They're following you,’ said Martha. 

‘Yeah, I noticed that, thanks,’ said the Doctor. They reached the rest of the group. ‘Well then, Rose, Martha, Frank, Solomon...’ 

‘What?’ 

‘Er, basically, run!’

Rose nodded her agreement and turned on her heel. The group ran through the tunnels, the pig men not far behind them, those things really could move.

‘Where are we going?’ shouted Martha. 

‘This way!’ shouted the Doctor and they followed him down another tunnel. He made an abrupt turn down another side tunnel. ‘It's a ladder! Come on!’ 

He climbed up the ladder and used the sonic screwdriver to open the hatch. Rose smiled up at the literal light at the end of the tunnel. Martha climbed up next and Frank grabbed a metal bar and started jabbing it at the pig men, warding them back. Solomon shouted out to him before quickly ushering Rose up the ladder.

‘But we can’t just leave him,’ said Rose.

‘The sooner we get up here, the sooner Frank can follow,’ said Solomon. Rose had to admit, he had a point. With one final look at the brave young man, she climbed the ladder.

She didn’t bother to check where they had ended up. As soon as she was out of the hatch, she turned back to help Solomon out. She heard the clang of metal being dropped on concrete and Frank appeared at the bottom of the ladder. He began to climb quickly but the pig men were faster. They grabbed his legs and Frank shouted out. The Doctor and Solomon both reached for him, shouting his name, but it was too late. The pigs dragged Frank out of view and started to climb the ladder themselves.

Rose fell to the ground as a heavy weight suddenly crashed into her side and landed on top of her; it was the Doctor. Solomon had pushed him out of the way so he could close the hatch, sealing the pig men in the tunnels… with Frank. 

The Doctor quickly picked himself up and tried to reopen the hatch. ‘We've got to go back down,’ he said. ‘We can't just leave him.’

Solomon pushed him away once more. ‘No, I'm not losing anybody else. Those creatures were from Hell. From Hell itself! If we go after them, they'll take us all! There's nothing we can do. I'm sorry.’

Martha crouched down next to Rose and helped her up. She was breathing heavily and her eyes were wet with unshed tears. ‘You okay?’ asked Rose. Martha shook her head. 

‘All right, then. Put them up,’ said a voice from behind them and they whirled around to see a blonde woman pointing a gun at them. ‘Hands in the air and no funny business. Now tell me, you schmucks, what have you done with Laszlo?’


	13. Daleks in Manhattan Part Two

The Doctor wasn't having the best day. As if being chased by pig men through the sewer tunnels of New York City wasn’t enough, now he was being threatened by someone who looked like she came out of a Mattel toy box. She wanted to know about someone called Laszlo.

‘Who's Laszlo?’ asked Martha, voicing the question that everybody else had been thinking.

The blonde waved the gun at them, indicating that they should move and she ushered them into what looked like an actor’s dressing room. They must have been on a movie set or in a theatre.

‘Laszlo's my boyfriend,’ said the blonde, displaying a great lack of gun safety. The gun pointed this way and that as she waved it around. The Doctor instinctively moved to block the others. He felt Rose fingertips digging into his arm. 

The woman seemed oblivious to the fear she was causing. ‘Or was my boyfriend,’ she continued, ‘until he disappeared two weeks ago. No letter, no goodbye, no nothing. And I'm not stupid. I know some guys are just pigs but not my Laszlo. I mean, what kind of guy asks you to meet his mother before he vamooses?’ 

The Doctor wasn’t really listening… something about a missing boyfriend. He’d be all too happy to help the woman if she just stopped waving the weapon around. He slowly edged forward. ‘Yeah. It might just help if you put that down.’ 

The woman looked confused for a moment before she realised what he meant. ‘Oh, sure,’ she said, throwing the gun down on seat. The Doctor flinched and the others all backed up a step. ‘Oh, come on. It's not real. It's just a prop. It was either that or a spear.’ 

Rose loosened her grip on the Doctor’s arm but she didn’t let go.

‘What do you think happened to Laszlo?’ asked Martha, pushing past them. Laszlo? Oh right! The missing boyfriend.

‘I wish I knew,’ said the actress. ‘One minute he's there, the next, zip. Vanished.’ 

Rose let go of the Doctor’s arm and joined the two other women. ‘What’s your name?’ she asked.

‘Tallulah. Three Ls and an H.’ 

The Doctor stepped forward; he had to get them back on track if they had any hope of saving Frank. ‘Right, Tallulah, we can try to find Laszlo, but he's not the only one. There are people disappearing every night.’ 

‘And there are creatures,’ said Solomon. ‘Such creatures.’ 

‘What do you mean, creatures?’ asked Tallulah disbelievingly. 

The Doctor didn’t have time for this. ‘Look, listen, just trust me,’ he said. ‘Everyone is in danger. I need to find out exactly what this is.’ He pulled the green blob from his pocket. ‘Because then I'll know exactly what we're fighting.’ 

Tallulah made a face. ‘Yuck! What is that thing?’

‘That’s what we are trying to find out.’

\----

Tallulah had shown the Doctor to the props room where they had first come out of the tunnels, it wasn’t much but it was the most likely place that he would be able to find something, _anything_ , to help him make the equipment he needed. Solomon was helping him scavenge for parts; Rose and Martha had stayed with Tallulah. 

‘How about this?’ asked Solomon, bringing the Doctor small radio. ‘I found it backstage.’ 

‘Perfect,’ said the Doctor and he took the device off of Solomon and started pulling it apart. ‘It's the capacitors I need. I'm just rigging up a crude little DNA scan for this beastie. If I can get a chromosomal reading, I can find out where it's from.’ 

‘How about you, Doctor?’ asked Solomon. ‘Where are you from? I've been all over. I never heard anybody talk like you. Just exactly who are you?’

‘Oh, I'm just sort of passing by.’ 

‘I'm not a fool, Doctor.’

The Doctor looked up at Solomon. He could think of many words to describe the man, but “fool” definitely wasn’t one of them. ‘No. Sorry.’ He still didn’t answer his question but Solomon, not being a fool, let it slide.

Solomon walked over to the sewer hatch and looked down at it with regret. ‘I was so scared, Doctor,’ he said. ‘I let them take Frank because I was just so scared.’ The Doctor didn’t reply, he knew a thing or two about being scared. ‘I got to get back to Hooverville. With these creatures on the loose, we got to protect ourselves. Ain't no one else going to help us.’

Solomon started to leave. 

‘Good luck,’ said the Doctor and Solomon stopped and turned to face him. 

‘I hope you find what you're looking for,’ he said. ‘For all our sakes.’

Solomon left and the Doctor stood there staring at nothing for a moment or two. It was rare to meet someone like Solomon, even for someone who travelled as much as the Doctor. The man was just humble and good and _human_. He briefly considered inviting him along in the TARDIS after all this mess had been cleared up but he knew the man would refuse. He wouldn’t leave the people of Hooverville, not by choice anyway. He cared about them too much.

The Doctor sighed and moved back over to his makeshift DNA scanner. He needed to find out what was going on in New York City. Maybe there was still a chance to save Frank. 

\---

It took a while but, with a little help from the sonic screwdriver, he finally got the device working. He had moved to the lighting room for more room to work, and to make use of the lights. The Doctor aimed a spotlight at the green blob which was now sitting in the DNA scanner. ‘That's it,’ he said to himself. ‘We need to heat you up.’

He put on his glasses to give himself a better view of the creature. ‘This is artificial. Genetically engineered. Whoever this is, oh, you're clever.’ That was bad news; he didn’t like his enemies to be clever.

He pulled out his stethoscope and held it to the blob. ‘Fundamental DNA type four six seven dash nine eight nine. Nine eight nine. Hold on, that means planet of origin…’ The Doctor rubbed his eyes as he made the calculations in his head. A cold dread passed through him as he realized where the blob, or at least whoever had made the blob, was from. No! It couldn’t be! ‘Skaro.’

The Doctor quickly got to his feet and headed towards the stage. Rose and Martha had gone to watch Tallulah dance and they weren’t safe there. They weren’t safe anywhere. Not if the Daleks were here.

The Doctor still held on to that shred of hope that told him that it couldn’t possibly be the Daleks. The only four Daleks left in existence had been pulled into the void.

He saw a group of dancers up ahead of him. They were all dressed as devils apart from Tallulah who had the part of angel. The devils were all complaining about something but the Doctor wasn’t really paying attention. He was too focussed on the two people who were nowhere to be seen.

He brushed past the dancers and tapped Tallulah on the shoulder. ‘Where are they?’ he asked.

‘I don't know,’ said Tallulah. ‘Martha ran off the stage and Rose went around the back.’

A scream came from the props room and the Doctor ran towards it without a second thought. He didn’t even realise that Tallulah had followed him until they had reached the props room.

Martha and Rose were nowhere in sight but the Doctor was sure the scream had come from this room. He looked towards the sewer entrance hatch and saw that it was half open. The pig men must have taken them back down. The Doctor pulled the cover off fully and started to climb down the ladder. 

‘Where are you going?’ asked Tallulah. 

‘They've taken her. Them. They’ve taken both of them.’

‘Who's taken them? What're you doing?’ 

The Doctor descended the ladder, ignoring Tallulah’s shouts. It wasn’t until she became strangely silent that he looked up to see her climbing down after him. ‘No, no, no, no, no way,’ he said. ‘You're not coming.’ 

‘Tell me what's going on,’ demanded the actress. 

‘There's nothing you can do. Go back.’ Couldn’t she understand that it wasn’t safe? 

‘Look, whoever's taken Martha and Rose, they could've taken Laszlo, couldn't they?’ 

‘Tallulah, you're not safe down here.’ 

‘Then that's my problem. Come on. Which way?’ Tallulah started to walk down a tunnel. It seemed that the Doctor had no choice in the matter. He had to admit that Tallulah did have a certain spark; maybe she could help find the missing people. The Doctor sighed and gave in. Fine, but if she was going to come with him, she could at least head in the right direction.

‘This way,’ he said, getting out his flashlight and walking in the opposite direction to which Tallulah had done. With her head held high, Tallulah turned around and followed him down the correct tunnel.

They walked in silence for a few minutes before Tallulah started fishing for answers again. ‘When you say, they've taken-’ 

The Doctor didn’t let her finish her sentence. There were hurried footsteps coming towards them, fast. ‘Shush,’ he whispered and he backed them up a bit closer to the wall. 

‘Okay, okay,’ said Tallulah.

The Doctor’s fear turned to relief when a familiar figure rounded a bend up ahead. Rose. He was about call out to her but stopped when he saw the fear written on her face. She was running from something.

‘We have to go,’ she whispered hurriedly as she reached them.

‘What’s chasing you?’ asked Tallulah.

Rose shook her head. ‘I don’t think it saw me and I don’t want it too. Now come on!’

The Doctor looked back up the tunnel where Rose had come from. A shadow appeared on the wall. Any hope the Doctor had about the Daleks being gone disappeared in an instant. ‘Too late,’ he said as he put a hand over Tallulah’s mouth to silence any badly timed questions she may have. He pulled her into a service alcove, hiding them from the Dalek’s view… providing the Dalek didn’t turn its eyestalk around. 

Rose pressed herself against the wall beside him. Her face was in the shadows now but he could sense her fear. He wished he could reach out and hold her hand but he had to hold Tallulah still so she didn’t give them away. 

Tallulah stilled in his grip as she saw the Dalek pass by them. For one terrifying moment, the Doctor thought it would turn to look at them but, after what felt like an eternity, it moved on. He released Tallulah and watched it move along the tunnel and out of sight. 

‘No, no, no, no, no, no, no,’ he whispered. ‘They survived. They always survive while I lose everything.’

A hand slipped into his and he looked down to see Rose staring up at him. ‘We’ll stop them,’ she said defiantly, though the Doctor could still see the fear in her eyes. He let go of her hand and pulled her in for a hug.

‘I thought they’d taken you,’ he said.

Rose shook her head against his chest. ‘The pig men grabbed Martha. She went after something across the stage and I went around the back way. I heard her scream and I saw her being dragged down the hatch. I tried to follow but I got lost in the tunnels… and then I saw...’ She pulled away from him so she could look him in the eyes. ‘Doctor, we have to get her back.’

‘That metal thing? What was it?’ asked Tallulah. 

‘It's called a Dalek,’ said the Doctor. ‘And it's not just metal, it's alive.’

Tallulah didn’t look convinced. ‘You're kidding me,’ she laughed.  
  
‘Does it look like I'm kidding?’ he said angrily. Rose once again slipped her hand into his and squeezed. Just knowing she was there, calmed him a little. ‘Inside that shell is a creature born to hate,’ he explained, his voice a bit more level, ‘whose only thought is to destroy everything and everyone that isn't a Dalek too. It won't stop until it's killed every human being alive.’ 

‘But if it's not a human being, that kind of implies it's from outer space,’ said Tallulah. The Doctor just stared at her and Tallulah got her answer. ‘Yet again, that's a no with the kidding. Boy. Well, what's it doing here, in New York?’

‘I don’t know but you’re not staying here to find out. You’re going back to the theatre.’ He grabbed her arm and started pulling her back the way they had came. ‘Every second you're down here, you're in danger. I'm taking you back right now.’

They rounded a corner and came face to face with a pig man. Tallulah screamed and the pig man began to run away.

‘Where's Martha?’ said the Doctor angrily. ‘What have you done with her? What have you done with Martha?’ 

‘I didn't take her,’ said the pig man, now cowering against a wall. The Doctor’s anger cooled. This pig man was different; he still seemed to have some sort of conscious thought. 

‘Can you remember your name?’ he asked.

‘Don't look at me,’ said the pig man.

‘Do you know where she is?’ asked Tallulah, also moving forward. Rose followed. 

‘Stay back! Don't look at me!’

‘Don’t be scared,’ said Rose. ‘We just wanna help. What happened to you?’ 

‘They made me a monster.’

‘Don’t say that.’

‘Who did?’ asked the Doctor. 

‘The masters,’ replied the pig man. 

‘The Daleks. Why?’ 

‘They needed slaves. They needed slaves to steal more people so they created us. Part animal, part human. I escaped before they got my mind, but it was still too late.’  
  
‘Do you know where they took Martha?’ asked Rose. 

‘It's my fault. She was following me.’ 

‘Were you in the theatre?’ asked Tallulah. The pig man seemed extra jumpy when she spoke. 

‘Yes,’ he said after a pause. 

‘Why? Why were you there?’ 

‘I never wanted you to see me like this.’ He looked towards the ground in shame and the Doctor realised who the man was before the Daleks turned him into this. Another couple of lives destroyed by the Daleks, he thought bitterly. 

Tallulah still hadn’t figured it out. Or she had and she just didn’t want to believe it. ‘Why me?’ she asked. ‘What have I got to do with this? Were you following me? Is that why you were there?’

Laszlo turned around so they could properly see him. ‘Yes,’ he admitted. 

‘Who are you?’ 

‘I was lonely.’ 

The Doctor felt a stab of pity towards the man. He knew how that felt. But that was before Rose. 

‘Who are you?’ asked Tallulah but the Doctor could tell that she knew the answer already. 

‘I needed to see you.’ 

‘Who are you?’ 

‘I'm sorry.’ Laszlo started to leave but Tallulah put her hand out to stop him. ‘No wait.’ She grabbed his shoulder and turned him to face her. ‘Let me look at you.’ She pushed him into the light and stared at him for a moment before she finally admitted the truth. ‘Laszlo? My Laszlo? Oh, what have they done to you?’ Tears began to form in her eyes.

‘I'm sorry. So sorry,’ said Laszlo. 

This was all very touching but they still needed to find Martha. ‘Laszlo, can you show me where they are?’ asked the Doctor.  
  
‘They'll kill you.’ 

‘If I don't stop them, they'll kill everyone.’

Laszlo nodded. ‘Then follow me.’

\----

The Doctor, Rose, Tallulah and Laszlo slowly crept along the tunnel. They could see the pig slaves up ahead, crowding around a group of prisoners. Martha was there and so was Frank. The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief. 

His relief was short-lived. Two Daleks appeared and he motioned for the others to back up against the wall. 

The Doctor watched from the shadows as the Daleks separated the prisoners into two groups. One of the prisoners tried to get away. It didn’t work out too well.

‘They're divided into two groups,’ explained Laszlo. ‘High intelligence and low intelligence. The low intelligence are taken to become pig slaves like me.’  
  
‘Well, that's not fair,’ said Tallulah and the Doctor shushed her. She really did have quite a shrill voice. ‘You’re the smartest guy I ever dated,’ she continued in a whisper. 

‘What happens to the others?’ whispered Rose.

‘They're taken to the laboratory.’ 

‘What for?’ 

‘I don't know. The masters only call it the Final Experiment.’

The Doctor watched as one of the Daleks scanned Frank and deemed his intelligence high enough for whatever experiment they were running. He held his breath as the Dalek then turned to Martha. 

‘Intelligence scan, initiate. Superior intelligence. This one will become part of the Final Experiment.’

The Doctor wasn’t surprised. Martha had already proven her intelligence many times in the short time he’d known her. Though, he had hoped she would be smarter than to start shouting at the Daleks but he was proved wrong. 

‘You can't just experiment on people. It's insane! It's inhuman!’ 

‘We are not human,’ replied the Dalek. ‘Prisoners of high intelligence will be taken to the transgenic laboratory.’

The Daleks and the pig slaves lead the prisoners down the tunnel. ‘Look out, they're moving!’ said the Doctor as he pressed himself closer to the wall.

Laszlo pulled on Tallulah’s arm and began guiding her away but stopped when he noticed that Rose and the Doctor hadn’t followed. ‘Doctor, quickly!’ he hissed. 

‘I'm not coming,’ said the Doctor. ‘I've got an idea. You go. You too, Rose.’

‘No way. I’m not leaving you to face the Daleks alone.’

Tallulah began pulling on Laszlo’s arm. ‘Laszlo, come on.’

He turned to her. ‘Can you remember the way?’ he asked. 

‘Yeah, I think so.’

‘Then go, please.’ 

‘But Laszlo, you got to come with me.’ 

‘Where would I go?’ he asked. ‘Tallulah, I'm begging you. Save yourself. Just run. Just go. Go.’

Tallulah reluctantly left just in time to miss being seen by the Daleks.

The Doctor and Rose quietly slipped in with the prisoners as they passed and Laszlo joined the pig slaves. The Doctor was right behind Martha. ‘Just keep walking,’ he whispered in her ear, making her jump. 

‘Oh, I'm so glad to see you,’ she said. 

‘Yeah, well, you can kiss me later. You too, Frank, if you want.’ He missed the flicker of jealousy that passed over Rose’s face.

A few minutes later, they arrived in the Dalek laboratory.

‘Dalek Sec is in the final stage of evolution,’ said one of the Cult of Skaro, the Doctor wasn’t sure which one it was. 

‘Scan him,’ said another Dalek. ‘Prepare for birth.’ 

‘Evolution?’ wondered the Doctor out loud. 

‘What's wrong with Sec?’ whispered Rose. 

‘I don’t know,’ said the Doctor. ‘Martha, ask them.’ 

‘What, me? Don't be daft.’ 

‘I don't exactly want to get noticed. Ask them what's going on.’ 

Martha took a moment to gather her courage and then turned to the Daleks. ‘Daleks, I demand to be told. What is this Final Experiment? Report!’ she yelled. The Doctor was impressed, that took guts. 

'You will bear witness,’ said the Dalek. 

‘To what?’ 

‘This is the dawn of a new age.’ 

‘What does that mean?’ 

‘We are the only four Daleks in existence, so the species must evolve a life outside the shell. The Children of Skaro must walk again.’

Dalek Sec’s shell opened and a humanoid creature stepped out. The face had small tentacles protruding from the cheeks, reminiscent of a Dalek’s true form. The Doctor didn’t miss the fact that the creature was wearing Mister Diagoras’s suit.

‘What is it?’ asked Martha, caught between curiosity and disgust. 

‘I am a human Dalek,’ said Sec in an American accent. ‘I am your future.’


	14. Evolution of the Daleks Part One

_‘I am a human Dalek. I am your future.’_

The Doctor was conflicted. The Daleks could do with a little humanity but at what cost? What was the full extent of their experiment? Whatever it was, the Doctor didn’t want Rose, Martha or Frank (or anybody else for that matter) to be part of it.

‘These humans will become like me,’ said Sec. ‘Prepare them for hybridisation.’ 

The Doctor snuck behind some lab equipment to hide himself. Rose wasn’t as quick. The pig men started to push her and the others away. Martha was screaming at them.

‘Halt!’ shouted one of the Daleks and for a second the Doctor thought that Martha’s shouting may have gotten a reaction out of them. But then the Dalek moved towards the group and faced Rose. The pig men backed off a bit and the prisoners fell silent. ‘This female was present at the opening of the Genesis Ark. She is an enemy of the Daleks.’

The Doctor looked around him; he had to find something to help her. His eyes fell on a small portable radio and he got an idea. Not the best idea, mind, but it would have to do.

‘That’s right, I am,’ Rose answered the Dalek, her voice not showing any of the fear that the Doctor knew she felt.

‘You destroyed the Emperor.’

‘You’re damn right I did.’

The Doctor poked his head out from behind the equipment. He could see Rose’s triumphant smile as she confirmed the Dalek’s statement. He felt a mixture of pride and fear for his companion. It took a lot of bravery to talk back to the Daleks but they tended to shoot anyone who did. Well, almost everyone.

‘YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED!’ shouted the Dalek and it raised its weapon ready to fire.

That was his cue. The Doctor held his sonic screwdriver to the radio and _Happy Days are Here Again _started to play. The Dalek stopped and swiveled its eyestalk around, looking for the source of the music.__

__‘What is that sound?’ asked Sec._ _

__‘Ah, well, now, that would be me,’ said the Doctor, stepping out from his hiding place. He put the radio down on a counter and approached Dalek Sec. ‘Hello. Surprise. Boo. Et cetera.’_ _

__‘Took your time,’ said Rose, though the Doctor could see the teasing glint in her eye._ _

__‘Doctor,’ said Sec. The Doctor couldn’t tell if he was surprised, angry or pleased._ _

__‘The enemy of the Daleks,’ said one of the other Daleks. This one was definitely not pleased._ _

__‘Exterminate,’ said another (also not pleased)._ _

__‘Wait!’ said Sec and the Daleks obeyed._ _

__The Doctor grabbed hold of his chance to get answers. For such an intelligent lot, the Daleks really did like to tell him all about their plans. ‘Well, then,’ he said. ‘A new form of Dalek. Fascinating and very clever.’_ _

__‘The Cult of Skaro escaped your slaughter,’ said Sec._ _

__‘How did you end up in 1930?’_ _

__‘Emergency temporal shift.’_ _

__‘Oh, that must have roasted up your power cells, yeah?’ He started to pace the room, trying to take in as much detail as he could. ‘Time was, four Daleks could have conquered the world, but instead you're skulking away, hidden in the dark, experimenting.’ He turned back to Sec. ‘All of which results in you.’_ _

__‘I am Dalek in human form,’ said Sec._ _

__‘What does it feel like?’ asked the Doctor. If he could get through to the human part of Sec, maybe there was still a chance. ‘You can talk to me, Dalek Sec. It is Dalek Sec, isn't it? That's your name? You've got a name and a mind of your own. Tell me what you're thinking right now.’_ _

__‘I feel humanity,’ said Sec slowly before turning away. He seemed to be still dealing with the change._ _

__‘Good. That's good.’_ _

__‘I feel everything we wanted from mankind, which is…’ Sec turned back to face the Doctor. ‘Ambition, hatred, aggression and war. Such a genius for war.’_ _

__Okay, not so good then._ _

__‘No, that's not what humanity means,’ said the Doctor._ _

__‘I think it does. At heart, this species is so very Dalek.’_ _

__So much for that idea._ _

__‘All right, so what have you achieved then?’ asked the Doctor, moving away from Sec. ‘With this Final Experiment, eh? Nothing! Because I can show you what you're missing with this thing. A simple little radio.’ He tapped the top of the radio._ _

__‘What is the purpose of that device?’ asked one of the Daleks._ _

__‘Well, exactly. It plays music. What's the point of that?’ said the Doctor. ‘Oh, with music, you can dance to it, sing with it, fall in love to it.’ He couldn’t help glancing at Rose for just a second. She was watching him with that proud look she always had when he faced an enemy or stood up for someone. He refocused his attention to the Daleks. ‘Unless you're a Dalek of course. Then it's all just noise.’ He aimed his sonic screwdriver at the radio and a shrill shrieking filled the room._ _

__The noise had the desired effect. Dalek Sec clutched his head in pain and the pig men squealed and covered their ears._ _

__‘Run!’ shouted the Doctor and the prisoners all pushed past the pig slaves and ran out of the lab, the Doctor closely behind them._ _

__He could hear the Daleks shouting behind them. ‘Protect the hybrid! Protect. Protect. Protect.’_ _

__They were around the corner and into the tunnels before the Doctor realised that Laszlo had stayed behind. He thought about going back but quickly decided that it would be safer for Laszlo if he didn’t. Laszlo was smarter than the Daleks gave him credit for, he would blend in and bide his time._ _

__‘Come on!’ shouted the Doctor after rounding another corner. He was in front of the group now and he had no doubt that the Daleks would be after them by now. ‘Move, move, move, move, move!’_ _

__They ran up another tunnel and the Doctor saw Tallulah standing up ahead, looking lost. ‘And you, Tallulah!’ he said as the group reached her. ‘Run!’_ _

__‘What's happened to Laszlo?’ she asked but Martha grabbed her arm and dragged her along with them._ _

__‘Laszlo?’ asked Martha._ _

__‘I’ll explain later,’ said the Doctor as they reached a ladder. ‘Come on! Everyone up! Come on!’_ _

__Everybody ascended the ladder and escaped the tunnels._ _

__‘Now what?’ asked Talullah. ‘Where do we go now?’_ _

__‘Where everybody goes when they’ve got nowhere else,’ said the Doctor. ‘Hooverville.’_ _

__\----_ _

__As soon as they had made it back to Hooverville, The Doctor went to find Solomon. It didn’t take long. He was helping a group of men arm themselves and sending them off to make a perimeter. He was intending to fight._ _

__The Doctor pulled Solomon aside and the rest of the group sat around the fire. He filled Solomon in on all the things that had happened on their latest little trip down the tunnels. There was no use fighting against the Daleks with shotguns._ _

__To Solomon’s credit, he took it very well. Killer robots from outer space weren’t an easy thing to accept even in the 21st century never mind the start of the 20th. ‘These Daleks, they sound like the stuff of nightmares,’ he said. ‘And they want to breed?’_ _

__‘They're splicing themselves onto human bodies,’ explained the Doctor, ‘and if I'm right, they've got a farm of breeding stock right here in Hooverville. You've got to get everyone out.’_ _

__‘Hooverville's the lowest place a man can fall. There's nowhere else to go.’_ _

__‘I'm sorry, Solomon. You've got to scatter. Go anywhere. Down to the railroads, travel across state. Just get out of New York.’_ _

__‘It’s your only chance,’ said Rose and the Doctor threw her a grateful look._ _

__‘There's got to be a way to reason with these things,’ said Solomon._ _

__‘I thought that too once,’ said Rose, ‘but I was wrong. The only thing a Dalek knows how to do is kill.’_ _

__‘You ain't seen them, boss,’ said Frank._ _

__‘Daleks are bad enough at anytime,’ said the Doctor, ‘but right now they're vulnerable. That makes them more dangerous than ever. You have got to get everyone out.’_ _

__The sound of a whistle blowing came from the perimeter and a man started running towards them. ‘They're coming! They're coming!’_ _

__‘A sentry,’ said Solomon. ‘He must have seen something.’_ _

__‘They're here! I've seen them! Monsters!’ yelled the sentry. ‘They're monsters!’_ _

__The sounds of the pig slaves could be heard coming from the village outskirts. Too late._ _

‘It's started,’ said the Doctor.  
  
‘We're under attack!’ shouted Solomon. ‘Everyone to arms!’ 

__More rifles were handed out and everybody took defensive positions._ _

__‘I'm ready, boss,’ said Frank, holding his own rifle, ‘but all of you, find a weapon! Use anything.’_ _

__People started to flee. Solomon shouted at them to come back but it was no good. They were too scared. Rose went to run after them but the Doctor held her back. ‘It’s too late,’ he whispered._ _

__The pig men were in the camp now and had started to take whoever was closest to them._ _

__‘We need to get out of the park,’ said Martha._ _

__‘We can't,’ said the Doctor. ‘They're on all sides. They're driving everyone back towards us.’_ _

__‘We're trapped,’ cried Tallulah._ _

__‘Then we stand together,’ said Solomon, once again showing his leadership. ‘Gather round. Everybody come to me. You there, Jethro, Harry, Seamus, stay together.’ The armed men formed a circle, protecting those without a weapon. ‘They can't take all of us.’_ _

__‘Oh, don’t say that,’ said the Doctor. ‘It’s as bad as saying things can’t get worse.’_ _

__Solomon ignored him and the men began to fire at the pig men closing in._ _

__‘If we can just hold them off till daylight,’ said Martha with hope in her voice._ _

__‘Oh, Martha, they're just the foot soldiers,’ said the Doctor._ _

__‘Here they come,’ said Rose, looking towards the sky. A Dalek was flying towards them._ _

__‘Oh, my God,’ said Martha._ _

__‘What in this world is that?’ asked Solomon._ _

__‘It's the devil,’ said one of the sentries. ‘A devil in the sky. God save us all. It's damnation.’_ _

__‘Oh yeah? We'll see about that!’ said Frank and he fired his rifle at the Dalek. The shot bounced off with a clang. It didn’t even make a dent._ _

__‘That's not going to work,’ said the Doctor._ _

__‘There's more than one of them,’ said Martha, pointing in another direction. A second Dalek flew over the camp and began to fire. Tents blew apart in balls of flame and the Doctor felt a wave of sorrow for anyone who was hiding inside. But that sorrow quickly turned to anger._ _

__‘The humans will surrender,’ said one of the Daleks._ _

__‘Leave them alone!’ shouted the Doctor. ‘They've done nothing to you!’_ _

__Solomon went to step forward but the Doctor grabbed his arm. ‘No, Solomon. Stay back.’_ _

__Solomon wrenched his arm from the Doctor’s grip and strode forward to face the Daleks. ‘I'm told that I'm addressing the Daleks. Is that right?’ No answer. ‘From what I hear, you're outcasts too.’_ _

__‘Don’t!’ pleaded Rose._ _

__‘She’s right, Solomon,’ said the Doctor. ‘Don’t do it.’_ _

__‘Doctor, this is my township,’ said Solomon. His tone left no room to argue. ‘You will respect my authority. Just let me try.’ He turned back to the Daleks who had been strangely silent. ‘Daleks, ain't we all the same? Underneath, ain't we all kin?’ Solomon put down his rifle and held his hands up in surrender. ‘Right. See, I've just discovered this past day that God's universe is a thousand times the size I thought it was. And that scares me. Oh yeah, terrifies me right down to the bone. But surely it's got to give me hope. Hope that maybe together we can make a better tomorrow. So, I beg you now, if you have any compassion in your hearts, then you'll meet with us and stop this fight. Well? What do you say?’_ _

__There was a pregnant pause and the Doctor hoped that maybe, just maybe, Solomon had gotten through to Sec (because the Doctor knew the human-Dalek was listening)._ _

__‘Exterminate,’ said one of the Daleks and it fired. Solomon screamed as his body turned bright green and then collapsed lifeless on the ground._ _

__‘No! Solomon!’ shouted Frank and he rushed forward to kneel next to his dead friend. People started to scream and panic._ _

__‘They killed him,’ said Martha. ‘They just shot him on the spot.’_ _

__‘It’s what Daleks do,’ said Rose with tears in her eyes. ‘They won’t stop.’_ _

__She was right; the Dalek wouldn’t stop, not without a good reason. And the Doctor knew something that the Daleks would halt their slaughter for. Him. He knew Rose was going to hate him for this and he felt guilty for leaving her but right now his anger and his survivor’s guilt had taken over. He had to protect her. He had to protect all of them. He stepped out into the clearing and held his arms out wide. ‘All right, so it's my turn!’ he shouted at the Daleks. ‘Then kill me! Kill me if it'll stop you attacking these people!’_ _

__He heard Rose yelling at him from the crowd but he daren’t look at her. He heard Frank get up to hold her back and he trusted the young man to stop her from getting in the way of the Daleks._ _

__‘I will be the destroyer of our greatest enemy,’ said one of the Daleks._ _

__‘Then do it!’ shouted the Doctor._ _

__‘Exterminate.’_ _

__‘No!’ shouted Rose as she tried to break free from Frank’s grasp._ _

__The Doctor waited for the kill shot but it didn’t come. Instead, the Dalek seemed to be having an argument with itself. It must have been Sec, back at the Dalek base._ _

__‘What's going on?’ asked the Doctor._ _

__‘You will follow,’ said the Dalek._ _

__Rose had broken free from Frank and ran to the Doctor. ‘You can’t!’ she said, grabbing his arm and looking up at him. Oh, those pleading eyes would be the death of him. ‘They’ll kill you.’_ _

__‘They just had their chance but they didn’t take it. Why not?’_ _

__‘Rose is right,’ said Martha. ‘Don’t push your luck.’_ _

__‘The Daleks just changed their minds. Daleks never change their minds.’_ _

__He could tell that he had won his case with Rose when she let go of his arm but he could also tell that she wasn’t happy about it and, if they survived this, he was in for one hell of a talking to._ _

__‘But what about us?’ asked Martha, indicating the villagers behind her._ _

__She had a point. The Doctor turned to face the Daleks. ‘One condition!’ he yelled. ‘If I come with you, you spare the lives of everyone here! Do you hear me?’_ _

__‘Humans will be spared,’ said the Dalek. ‘Doctor, follow.’_ _

__‘I'm coming with you,’ said Rose._ _

__‘Me too,’ said Martha._ _

__‘No, stay here,’ said the Doctor. ‘Martha, do what you do best. People are hurt. You can help them. Both of you can.’ He cast a warning glance to Rose as she opened her mouth to protest. ‘Let me go.’_ _

__The Doctor wound his arms around Rose in a tight embrace. He didn’t want to let go of her but he knew he had to. He had to go see what the Daleks were up to in their laboratory and Rose had to use the psychic paper he had just slipped into her pocket to go check out the Empire State Building. All the pig slaves had been construction workers. That couldn’t just be a coincidence. He knew she would figure it out._ _

__He reluctantly pulled away from the hug and gave Martha a small salute. ‘Good luck,’ he said before he followed the Daleks out of the park._ _


	15. Evolution of the Daleks Part Two

Rose didn’t know how long she had been holding the crying young woman in her arms. The fires outside had mostly been put out and people were either helping extinguish the remaining flames or helping gather the dead. 

Among the dead had been Marcus, the brother of Dorothy (the young woman whom was now crying into Rose’s shoulder). Dorothy was just one of many who had lost friends or family in the Dalek attack.

Rose’s thoughts went back to the events from earlier. The Doctor had offered himself up for extermination, no, scratch that, he had _begged_ for it. Why would he do that? Rose felt a mix of worry, anger and hurt. She knew he had a guilt complex but she thought he was getting better. Sure, he had offered himself up to the plasmavore on the moon but at least that had had a purpose. What he did tonight was just suicide.

Dorothy gave another loud sob, bringing Rose back to the present and she began to rub comforting strokes along the woman’s arm. ‘Shhh,’ she soothed. ‘It’ll be okay.’

Comforting people seemed to be the only thing that Rose could do at the moment. Martha was in her element, cleaning and bandaging the cuts and bruises of the villagers. Even Tallulah was helping with gathering supplies for her. Truth be told, Rose felt a bit useless. But if comforting those who had lost loved ones was all she could do, then she was going to the best she could for those people.

Dorothy sniffed as she lifted her head up of Rose’s shoulder, her tears beginning to slow. ‘Thank you,’ she said.

‘It’s okay,’ said Rose softly. ‘Are you going to be all right now?’

Dorothy shook her head. ‘I don’t think I’ll ever be all right again but I can’t just sit here crying. Marcus wouldn’t want that.’

Rose gave her a reassuring smile and Dorothy got up to go help some of the injured people.

Rose walked over to Martha who was just sending her next patient on their way. ‘You'll be all right,’ she told the man. ‘It's just a cut. Try and keep it clean.’  

The patient left and Rose sat down next to Martha. ‘How are you going?’ she asked.

Martha sighed. ‘There’s really not a lot I can do apart from clean them up.’

‘And what about you? Are you hurt?’

‘No, just a bit shaken.’

Rose nodded and silence fell over the pair. 

‘You were brilliant back there,’ said Rose, not being able to stand the quiet any longer. ‘Standing up to the Daleks like that, it was really brave.’

‘I don’t feel very brave,’ said Martha. ‘I was terrified.’

‘But you still did it, though. And that’s what bravery is; being scared but doing what needs to be done anyway.’

Martha gave Rose a small smile. ‘Suppose so.’

The tent flap opened and Tallulah walked through with a bowl of water in her hands. ‘I got more on the boil,’ she told Martha.

‘Thanks,’ said Martha taking the bowl.

Tallulah sat down next to Rose. ‘So, what about us?’ she asked ‘What do we do now?’

Rose took the psychic paper out of her pocket. ‘The Doctor gave me this,’ she said. ‘It will help us get into any building we want but I don’t know which one he wants me to go to.’ 

The three women fell silent in thought. It was a few minutes before Martha spoke up. ‘Down in the sewers,’ she said, ‘the Daleks mentioned this energy conductor.’  
   
‘What does that mean?’ asked Tallulah.  

‘I don't know. Maybe like a lightening conductor or… Dalekanium! They said the Dalekanium was in place.’  

‘In place where?’

‘The Empire State Building,’ said Rose, realising what she assumed the Doctor must have realised straight away. ‘All those pig slaves were wearing construction worker’s clothes and I’m willing to bet anything that they were taken from the Empire State Building.’

‘It is the tallest building in the city and would be the best choice for a conductor,’ agreed Martha. ‘But we'd better ask Frank, just to be sure.’

Rose nodded and followed Martha out of the tent. 

They found Frank outside, mourning the loss of Solomon. ‘Frank?’ asked Martha. He made a small noise to confirm he was listening but he didn’t move. ‘That Mister Diagoras, he was like some sort of fixer, yeah? Get you jobs all over town?’  

‘Yeah. He could find a profit anywhere,’ said Frank, still not looking up.

Rose sat down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. ‘Solomon was a good bloke,’ she said. ‘And I know he wouldn’t want you to be sitting here by yourself. Help us stop the Daleks. Where did Mister Diagoras get you to work? Was there anything in particular he needed more workers for?’

Frank nodded. ‘Yeah. He mainly had us building that.’ He pointed over his shoulder at the Empire State Building. 

‘Then that’s where I’m going,’ said Rose, standing up.

‘I’m coming with you,’ said Frank standing up as well. ‘You’re right; I shouldn’t be sitting here by myself. I should be out there fighting.’

Rose smiled. ‘Well, come on, then.’

\----

It didn’t take long for Rose, Martha, Frank, and Tallulah to get to the Empire State Building. The psychic paper worked its usual magic and they got through to the service lift with ease.

‘I always wanted to go to the Empire State,’ said Martha. ‘Never imagined it quite like this, though.’  

‘Where are we headed anyway?’ asked Frank.

‘Right to the top,’ said Rose. ‘If Martha is right about the Dalekanium, that’s where it’ll be.’  

‘How come those guys just let us through?’ asked Tallulah. ‘How's that thing work?’

Rose held up the psychic paper with a grin. ‘Psychic paper. Shows them whatever I want them to see.’ She opened it up to read it. ‘According to this, we're three engineers and an architect.’

A minute later, the lift doors opened and the group walked out into an open room. Rose pulled her jacket tighter around her to try and fight off the chill of the air coming from the great big hole in the wall. ‘Look at this pace,’ said Tallulah in awe. ‘Top of the world.’

Rose took a moment to admire the view but a movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. It was Martha moving towards a drawing board with blueprints on it. Rose walked over to help. 

‘Okay, now this looks good,’ said Martha.  

‘Hey, look at the date,’ said Frank. He was looking over Martha’s shoulder at the blueprints. ‘These designs were issued today. They must've changed something last minute.’  

‘You mean the Daleks changed something?’ asked Martha.  

‘Yeah, could be.’  

‘The ones underneath, they're from before. That means that whatever they changed must be on this top sheet but not on this one. We need to check one against the other.’  

Tallulah was still looking out over New York. ‘The height of this place!’ she said. ‘This is amazing.’  

‘Careful, we're a hundred floors up, don’t go wandering off,’ said Martha.

‘She’s right,’ said Rose. ‘It’s a nasty fall down.’ 

‘I just want to see,’ insisted Tallulah, moving closer to the edge. ‘New York City. If aliens had to come to Earth, no wonder they came here.’

Frank and Martha lifted the blueprints and spread them out across the floor. ‘So, we can all see properly,’ said Frank.

Tallulah came back from the opening in the wall and leaned over to help them look over the building plans. ‘There’s a storm approaching,’ she said and Rose stiffened at her words. She shook herself out of it. She had already survived that storm, this was a different type of storm altogether. 

‘I'll go and keep an eye out,’ said Frank. ‘Make sure we're safe up here. Don't want nobody butting in.’ He got up and headed towards the room’s entrance.  
   
‘I wish the Doctor was here,’ sighed Martha. ‘He'd know what we're looking for.’ Rose nodded in agreement.  

‘So tell me, where did you all first hook up?’ asked Tallulah.

Rose smiled. ‘A long time ago, for me. In a shop basement.’ Tallulah looked a bit confused about why Rose was smiling at this. Rose supposed she was expecting something a bit more  romantic.

‘It was in a hospital, for me,’ said Martha 

‘Of course, him being a doctor,’ said Tallulah, glad of something that made sense.   

‘Actually, I'm a doctor,’ said Martha. ‘Well, kind of.’  

‘You're a physician? Really?’ 

Martha nodded. ‘I was training. Still am, if I ever get back home.’

‘We’ll get back home,’ said Rose. ‘Don’t worry, the Doctor will get us out of here.’ As long as he doesn’t keep offering himself up for target practice, she added in her head. 

‘Do you think he can get Laszlo out?’ asked Tallulah and Rose felt a wave of guilt. She had been so caught up in her own worries that she hadn’t considered what Tallulah must have been going through. The poor girl must be so worried about her boyfriend and so heartbroken over the loss of their future. That was what the Daleks did best, thought Rose. They took away peoples’ futures. 

She wondered what this new human-Dalek hybrid would mean for the Daleks. She remembered how the first Dalek she had ever met had reacted to being “contaminated” with humanity. It would rather die than let itself change. For how long would the other three Daleks allow Sec’s evolution to continue before they too thought the price of survival too great?

‘He’ll do his best,’ assured Rose, refocusing her attention on Tallulah.

‘And then what?’ asked Tallulah. ‘There's no future for me and him. Those Dalek things took that away. The one good thing I had in my life and they destroyed it.’ She got up and walked back over to the edge of the building.

Neither Rose or Martha knew what to say so they went back to scanning over the blueprints.

\----

It was Martha who found the answer in the end. ‘Gotcha,’ she said, pointing to the top of the blueprints and Tallulah ran back over to see what Martha had found. ‘Look. There, on the mast. Those little lines? They're new. They've added something, see?’ 

Rose smiled and squeezed Martha’s shoulder. ‘Dalekanium. Well done, you.’ 

She got up and walked over to the hole in the wall. Blimey, they were high up. She did her best to avoid looking down, and directed her attention to the mast above her instead. ‘I can get up there but I don’t know how I’m gonna get the Dalekanium off,’ she said. ‘Still, gotta try, I suppose.’

She had just started to climb the wooden ladder when she heard the lift ding and the doors open.

‘Doctor!’ cried Martha and Rose started to climb back down as she heard Martha telling the Doctor and Laszlo about the Dalekanium. She got back down to the floor just in time to see the Doctor lift Martha up in a hug. He abruptly put her down however when the lift doors dinged again and closed.

‘No, no, no,’ he shouted as he ran for the lift but it was too late. He tried the sonic screwdriver but to no avail. ‘Deadlock seal. I can't stop it.’  
   
‘Where's it going?’ asked Martha.  

‘Right down to the Daleks. And they're not going to leave us alone up here. What's the time?’

Rose didn’t hear Frank’s reply; she was too busy climbing back up the ladder. If the Daleks were on their way up, they had to get a move on.

‘ROSE!’ she heard the Doctor shout from below. She didn’t look down; she didn’t want to see the proof of how high up she was. ‘What are you doing?’ 

‘What’s it look like?’ she shouted back. ‘We gotta get the Dalekanium off the mast.’

‘I’ll do it, you just get back down here.’

Rose ignored him and kept climbing and it was only a few seconds before she heard the Doctor climbing up after her.

Eventually she made it to the top and studied the Dalekanium on the mast. She tried to push it but it didn’t budge. 

‘We’ll need your sonic screwdriver,’ she said to the Doctor once he had joined her. She didn’t look at him.

‘Rose, go back down,’ he said. ‘I can do this but the others need you.’

‘I think you might need me more,’ she said, still not looking at him. ‘Don’t want you jumping off the building now, do we?’ She couldn’t keep the bitterness out of her words.

The Doctor obviously understood what she was upset about and smartly decided not to argue. He silently moved towards the mast, sonic screwdriver in hand.

Lightning flashed around them as he managed to get the first bit of Dalekanium free. ‘The Daleks have this wired up to their laboratory,’ he explained as he worked on the next one. ‘They need the energy generated by the lightning strike to finish their experiment. They have scores of bodies infused with Dalek DNA just waiting to rise.’

‘A lightning strike is gonna hit the mast?’ asked Rose and the Doctor nodded. ‘Better hurry up then. One day, you’re gonna have to make me one of those,’ she nodded at the sonic screwdriver, ‘so I can help more.’

‘Not a bad idea,’ admitted the Doctor as he got the second piece of Dalekanium free and handed it to Rose. She put it down next to the first.

‘One more to go,’ she muttered.

The Doctor moved over to the last piece and pointed the sonic screwdriver at it. The mast was starting to shake as the wind blew against it and he struggled with the screwdriver before it slipped out of his grasp and landed on the scaffolding below.

‘I’ll get it,’ said Rose and she began to climb down the ladder.

‘Be careful,’ shouted the Doctor but she barely heard him over the wind.

It didn’t take long to get the screwdriver and she had almost gotten back to the top of the wooden ladder when the lightning struck. Rose held on for dear life as the ladder shook. 

The wind was howling but it wasn’t loud enough to drown out the screams from above. A million terrifying scenarios played through Rose’s head and, as soon as the danger had passed, she quickly made her way up the last bit of the ladder. 

The Doctor was lying unconscious on the scaffolding. Rose crawled towards him. ‘Doctor!’ she shouted. She put an ear to his chest and sighed in relief when she heard the double-rhythm of his heart. ‘Doctor, wake up!’ she said grabbing his shoulders and shaking him slightly.

He let out a whimper that sounded suspiciously like her name before he slowly opened his eyes.

‘What happened?’ she asked.

‘Had to get in the way,’ he groaned.

Rose’s anger flared as she realised what he had done. She had no idea why, but he had gotten struck by the lightning on purpose. She looked over at the mast. ‘There’s still one piece of Dalekanium in place,’ she said.

This seemed to spur the Doctor into action. He sat up and moved towards the ladder with the speed of someone who had not just been struck by lightning. He definitely was impossible sometimes.

Rose sat there in shock for a moment before she followed the Doctor back down the ladder.

\----

Thankfully Martha and the others had survived their fight. There were bits of metal scaffolding set up along the room, leading to the lift. They must have used it to electrocute the pig slaves who were now lying dead on the floor.

‘The Daleks will have gone straight to a war footing,’ said the Doctor. ‘They'll be using the sewers, spreading the soldiers out underneath Manhattan.’ Rose didn’t miss the fact that he was purposely avoiding looking at her.

‘How do we stop them?’ asked Laszlo.  

‘There's only one chance. I got in the way. That gamma strike went zapping though me first.’  

‘Why?’ asked Rose. She needed to know that there was a tactical advantage to the Doctor’s second suicide attempt of the night. 

‘We need to draw fire,’ said the Doctor, ignoring her question. ‘Before they can attack New York, I need to face them. Where can I draw them out?’ He ran his hand through his hair like he always did when he was thinking under pressure. Usually Rose found it endearing and a little bit sexy, but right now she was too angry. What wasn’t the Doctor telling her? 

‘Think, think, think, think, think,’ he continued. ‘We need some sort of space. Somewhere safe. Somewhere out of the way. Tallulah!’ He spun to face the blonde. He looked a bit like a mad scientist with his hair pointing in every direction.  

‘That's me,’ said Tallulah. ‘Three Ls and an H.’  

‘The theatre! It's right above them, and, what, it's gone midnight? Can you get us inside?’  

‘Don't see why not.’

‘We have the psychic paper, anyway,’ Rose reminded him, holding up said paper.

‘Oh, right,’ said the Doctor taking the paper from her hand and putting it back in his pocket. He didn’t once look her in the eye. ‘Is there another lift?’ he asked the group.  

‘We came up in the service elevator,’ said Martha. 

‘That'll do. Allons-y!’

They all rushed to the service lift, Rose dragging along behind. For once, she wasn’t really in the mood for running.

\----

‘This should do it,’ said the Doctor as they entered the theatre. ‘Here we go.’ He moved to the centre of the room and started waving the sonic screwdriver around.

‘There ain't nothing more creepy than a theatre in the dark,’ said Tallulah. Rose disagreed. Sure, it was a little creepy, but compared to some of the places she’d been, it was actually sort of peaceful. 

Laszlo sat down with a grunt of pain and Talullah rushed over to him. ‘Laszlo, what's wrong?’  

‘Nothing. It's just so hot,’ instead Laszlo but Rose could see he was lying. She wondered what the average lifespan of the pig slaves were.  

‘But it's freezing in here,’ said Tallulah. ‘Doctor, what's happening to him?’ 

‘Not now, Tallulah. Sorry,’ said the Doctor. He was holding his screwdriver up to his ear.

‘What are you doing?’ asked Martha.  

‘If the Daleks are going to war, they'll want to find their number one enemy. I'm just telling them where I am.’ He held up the screwdriver in the air, the blue light flashing on and off.

‘So, you’re just gonna give yourself to them?’ asked Rose in disbelief. ‘Again!’  

He looked her in the eyes for the first time since he left Hooverville. ‘Rose, trust me. I have a plan.’

‘And does this plan involve you offering yourself up as a martyr?’

‘You lot should go,’ he said and Rose got her answer.

‘I’m not leaving you,’ she said defiantly.

‘Nether am I,’ said Martha.

‘I'm telling you to go,’ growled the Doctor. ‘Frank can take you back to Hooverville.’  

‘And I'm telling you I'm not going,’ said Martha.  

‘Martha, that's an order.’  

‘Who are you, then? Some sort of Dalek?’

Nice one, thought Rose and she could see that it had struck a chord with the Doctor.

The argument all became immaterial however when the theatre doors crashed open and people started to march in. Each one was carrying a weapon. These must be the new Dalek-human soldiers.

‘Doctor! Oh, my God!’ gasped Tallulah. ‘Well, I guess that's them then, huh?’

‘It's all right, it's all right. Just stay calm,’ said the Doctor, grabbing Frank and bringing him closer to the group. ‘Don't antagonize them.’  

‘But what of the Dalek masters?’ asked Laszlo. He was holding onto Tallulah like his life depended on it. ‘Where are they?’

Right on cue, the back of the theatre stage exploded and two Daleks appeared, a chained Sec crawling between them.

‘What have they done to him?’ asked Rose but no one answered her.

‘The Doctor will stand before the Daleks,’ said one of the Daleks.

‘Frank,’ said the Doctor in a suspiciously calm tone, ‘hold onto Rose.’

Frank looked confused for a second but quickly did as he was told as the Doctor lifted himself up onto the top of the seats and made his way towards the Daleks. He stopped on front row.

‘Don’t you dare,’ cried Rose as she struggled against Frank. It was Hooverville all over again. 

‘You will die, Doctor,’ said the Dalek. ‘It is the beginning of a new age. Planet Earth will become New Skaro.’  

‘Oh, and what a world,’ said the Doctor. ‘With anything just the slightest bit different ground into the dirt. That's Dalek Sec.’ He pointed to the human-Dalek on the stage floor. ‘Don't you remember? The cleverest Dalek ever and look what you've done to him. Is that your new Empire, hmm? Is that the foundation for a whole new civilization?’ 

‘My Daleks,’ said Sec, ‘just understand this. If you choose death and destruction, then death and destruction will choose you.’ Rose wished that the other Daleks would listen to him but she knew that they wouldn’t.  

‘Incorrect,’ said one. ‘We will always survive.’  

‘Now we will destroy our greatest enemy, the Doctor,’ said the other.  

‘But he can help you,’ said Sec.  

‘The Doctor must die.’  

‘No, I beg you, don't.’  

‘Exterminate!’ cried one of the Daleks and Rose made another futile attempt to free herself from Frank’s grasp.  

In a move that shocked everyone, Sec stood in front of the Dalek’s laser bolt and the green light engulfed him. He fell lifeless to the floor.  

‘Your own leader,’ said the Doctor in disgust ‘The only creature who might have led you out of the darkness and you destroyed him.’ He addressed the new Dalek-human soldiers. ‘Do you see what they did? Huh? You see what a Dalek really is?’ He turned back to the two Daleks on the stage. ‘If I'm going to die, let's give the new boys a shot. What do you think, eh? The Dalek-humans. Their first blood. Go on, baptise them.’ He held his arms out wide, willing them to shoot.

‘No!’ cried Rose and Frank gripped her tighter to stop her from breaking free. ‘You can’t!’ 

‘Dalek-humans, take aim,’ said one of the Daleks and the soldiers obeyed. 

‘What are you waiting for?’ said the Doctor. ‘Give the command!’ 

Rose couldn’t believe this. She would have usually assumed that the Doctor had a trick up his sleeve but this was the third time in as many hours that he had offered himself up to the Daleks. Rose wasn’t sure how much longer his luck would hold out. Maybe he didn’t want it to.  

‘Exterminate!’ cried the Daleks and Rose closed her eyes, not wanting to see the Doctor die before her. When no sound followed, she slowly opened them again. The Dalek-human soldiers were looking curiously at the Daleks. 

‘Obey,’ said one of the Daleks. ‘Dalek-humans will obey.’  

‘They're not firing,’ said Martha. ‘What have you done?’

Rose now realised why the Doctor had gotten in the way of the lightning strike. She felt the relief wash over her before the anger settled in. Why couldn’t he have just told her his plan on the way there rather than put her through this? She stilled in Frank’s grip and he let her go.  
   
The Daleks were still trying to regain control of their soldiers. ‘You will obey,’ they said. ‘Exterminate.’  

‘Why?’ asked one of the soldiers.  

‘Daleks do not question orders.’  
   
‘But why?’  

‘You will stop this.’  

‘But why?’ 

Rose almost laughed. It was like talking to a toddler. She supposed that’s what the soldiers were, really, a new species just beginning life.   

‘You must not question,’ said one of the Daleks.  

‘But you are not our master. And we, we are not Daleks.’  

‘No, you're not,’ said the Doctor. ‘And you never will be.’ He turned to face the Daleks. ‘Sorry, I got in the way of the lightning strike. Time Lord DNA got all mixed up. Just that little bit of freedom.’  

‘If they will not obey, then they must die,’ said one of the Daleks and it fired at the soldier who had questioned it. 

‘Get down!’ shouted the Doctor as he rushed over to them. 

They all dropped below the cover of the theatre chairs as the room erupted in firepower. The Doctor appeared at Rose's side and put an arm around her shoulder to keep her down. 

The room was filled with cries of ‘Exterminate’ and the sound of lasers before two explosions signaled the end of the fight. The Doctor slowly stood up and the rest of the group followed his lead. The two Daleks on the stage had been blown to pieces and some of the human-Time Lord-Dalek hybrids lay dead on the floor.

‘It's all right, it's all right, it's all right. You did it,’ said the Doctor to the remaining soldiers. ‘You're free.’

A high-pitched sound filled the room and the hybrids clutched their heads in pain.

‘No!’ cried the Doctor. ‘They can't! They can't! They can't! They can't!’

‘What’s happening?’ asked Rose as the hybrids fell to the floor.  

‘They killed them,’ said the Doctor. ‘Rather than let them live. An entire species.’ His eyebrows furrowed in anger and Rose recognised the look. The Oncoming Storm. ‘Genocide.’  

‘Only two of the Daleks have been destroyed,’ pointed out Laszlo. ‘One of the Dalek masters must still be alive.’  

‘Oh, yes,’ agreed the Doctor, now deceptively calm. ‘In the whole universe, just one.’

He ran out of the theatre, no doubt heading towards the Dalek laboratory. Rose let him go, not having the energy to chase after him. Instead she focused her attention on Laszlo who was once again sitting down.

‘You okay?’ she asked.

‘It’s too hot,’ replied Laszlo. ‘I can’t breathe.’

‘Oh, sweetie, what’s wrong?’ asked Tallulah kneeling in front of him. She turned to face Rose and Martha. ‘Do you think the Doctor can help him?’

‘Only one way to find out,’ said Rose and she lifted one of Laszlo’s arms over her shoulder and Martha grabbed the other. ‘Come on, the Doctor would have gone to the Dalek lab.’

Together, they slowly helped Laszlo out of the theatre.

\----

By the time they got to the lab, the last Dalek in existence had already teleported away from 1920’s New York. The Doctor didn’t look very happy about it.

‘Doctor!’ shouted Martha. ‘Doctor! He's sick.’ The Doctor rushed forward as Martha and Rose lowered Laszlo onto the ground. ‘It's his heart. It's racing like mad. I've never seen anything like it.’

‘What is it, Doctor?’ asked Tallulah, cradling Laszlo in her arms. ‘What's the matter with him? He says he can't breathe? What is it?’  

‘It's time, sweetheart,’ said Laszlo softly.  

‘What do you mean, time? What are you talking about?’  

‘None of the slaves survive for long. Most of them only live for a few weeks. I was lucky. I held on because I had you. But now, I'm dying, Tallulah.’

‘No, you're not. Not now, after all this.’ She looked up at the Doctor with pleading eyes. ‘Doctor, can't you do something?’  

‘Oh, Tallulah with three Ls and an H, just you watch me.’ He got up and threw his jacket to the ground, determination radiating from him in waves. ‘What do I need? Oh, I don't know. How about a great big genetic laboratory? Oh look, I've got one.’ He started running about the room, gathering supplies and mixing ingredients. ‘Laszlo, just you hold on. There's been too many deaths today. Way too many people have died. Brand new creatures and wise old men and age old enemies. And I'm telling you, I'm telling you right now, I am not having one more death! You got that? Not one. Tallulah, out of the way.’ He pulled his stethoscope from his pocket and put it around his neck. ‘The Doctor is in.’

\----

The Doctor had lived up to his chosen name and had saved Laszlo. The group had then made their way back to Central Park and were now waiting on Frank who had gone to talk to the residents of Hooverville about letting Laszlo stay with them. Rose let the warmth of the sun wash over her face, willing herself to forget about everything just for a moment and be grateful that they had made it. 

She brought herself back to Earth when Frank returned. ‘Well, I talked to them,’ he said, ‘and I told them what Solomon would've said, and I reckon I shamed one or two of them.’  

‘What did they say?’ asked the Doctor.  

‘They said yes.’ Tallulah wrapped her arms around Laszlo’s neck in a loving embrace. Rose couldn’t help but smile. ‘They'll give you a home, Laszlo. I mean, er, don't imagine people ain't going to stare. I can't promise you'll be at peace but, in the end, that is what Hooverville is for. People who ain't got nowhere else.’  

‘Thank you,’ said Laszlo, his voice thick with gratitude. ‘I can't thank you enough.’ Tallulah embraced him once more.

The Doctor, Rose, and Martha made their goodbyes and headed back to the TARDIS. Now that the others were gone, it was harder for Rose to ignore the anger and hurt that she felt.

‘Do you reckon it's going to work, those two?’ asked Martha when they had gotten to the TARDIS.  

‘I don't know,’ said the Doctor, turning to look over the city. ‘Anywhere else in the universe, I might worry about them, but New York? That's what this city's good at. Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, and maybe the odd pig slave Dalek mutant hybrid too.’  

Martha laughed. ‘The pig and the showgirl.’

The Doctor and Rose smiled too. ‘The pig and the showgirl,’ said the Doctor. 

‘It just proves it,' said Martha. There's someone for everyone.’

Both the Doctor and Rose’s smiles faded and they glanced at each other, each quickly looking away as they made eye contact. ‘Maybe,’ said the Doctor moving to unlock the TARDIS.  

Martha seemed to have sensed that she had hit a sore spot. ‘Meant to say, I'm sorry.’  

‘What for?’  

‘Just because that Dalek got away. I know what that means to you. Think you'll ever see it again?’  

‘Oh, yes,’ said the Doctor, holding the door open. Martha and Rose walked in, Rose purposely avoiding looking at him. ‘One day.’


	16. Moon Landing: Take Two

Martha sighed in frustration. After the ordeal with the Daleks (aka the creatures that would be haunting her nightmares for the foreseeable future), the Doctor had suggested trying the moon landing again. Martha had jumped at the chance, eager to witness the historic moment properly.

They couldn’t go to Houston again so instead the Doctor took them to a tracking station in Canberra, not quite as exciting as Houston, but Martha wasn’t complaining. Well, not about that anyway.

She tried to focus on the events in front of her but the Doctor and Rose’s voices were hard to block out. Their argument had started off in hushed whispers but had quickly escalated to full on shouting.

‘I had a plan!’ shouted the Doctor for the umpteenth time.

‘Yeah, you did,’ said Rose hotly. ‘You had a plan to kill yourself. No, wait, hold on, you had THREE plans to kill yourself.’

‘You make it sound like I wanted to die.’

‘Well, did you?’

‘Of course I didn’t!’

‘You could have fooled me!’

Martha put her hand to her head to soothe her growing headache. ‘Can you two just pack it in for a minute,’ she said but the Doctor and Rose carried on as if they hadn’t heard her. Perhaps they didn’t. 

‘So tell me then, what should I have done?’ asked the Doctor. ‘How else was I supposed to have stopped the Daleks?’

Rose faltered. ‘I don’t know. Something, _anything_ , other than offer yourself up for extermination.’ She paused to try and control her anger and when she spoke next it was in a softer, more vulnerable tone. ‘Look, I understand about the lightning strike, and I can even sort of understand why you stood up in front of those human-dalek soldiers… but what about back in Hooverville? You begged the Daleks to shoot you but what for? What good could have possibly come from it?’ 

Now it was the Doctor’s turn to be caught off guard. ‘I didn’t… I needed to…’ he stumbled over his words before sighing in defeat. ‘Doesn’t matter.’

‘I guess not,’ said Rose and she turned on her heel and walked back to the TARDIS. The Doctor scrubbed his hands down his face before following her.

Martha briefly considered staying where she was and trying to enjoy the history that they had come to see in the first place, but figured there was no real point. Her mood had already been ruined and her headache was getting worse. She had no idea what the Doctor had been thinking when he had tried to sacrifice himself in Hooverville but she was sure he had had a reason. And she was ninety percent sure that that reason had something to do with protecting Rose.

If the fear and anger that the Doctor had displayed in New New York hadn’t convinced Martha of his feelings towards Rose, then that look he had given her in the original New York certainly would have done the trick. She hadn’t even thought about what she saying when she had said that there was someone for everyone, it just sort of came out. But the way the Doctor had straight away glanced at Rose had made his true feelings toward her obvious. Not obvious enough for Rose though it seemed.

Martha fought back the stab of jealously that threatened to surface. She knew that there was no way she had a chance with the Doctor, not with Rose around, but she couldn’t help wishing he would have looked at her like that. It was like a stupid schoolgirl crush that she just couldn’t seem to shake even though she knew it was pointless. She didn’t want Rose out of the way, she was just beginning to warm up to her, one might even call them friends, but she couldn’t help wondering what would have happened if she wasn’t in the picture. 

Probably nothing. 

Martha sighed again, there was no point thinking of what ifs. The fact of the matter was that Rose very much _was_ in the picture and the Doctor was as much in love with her as she were him. Why couldn’t they just admit it to each other?

Whatever their feelings were towards each other, Martha could see that this argument wasn’t just going to blow over and she was determined not to take sides. She picked herself up off the small plastic chair she had been sitting on and made her way back to the TARDIS, vowing that one day she would get to witness the moon landing without interruption.


	17. The Lazarus Experiment Part One

Rose had gone straight to bed after their second attempt at seeing the moon landing. At the back of her mind there was guilt for ruining it for Martha again but she was too angry with the Doctor to give it much thought.

The next morning however, was another story. 

After a surprisingly long sleep, Rose had awoken with a much clearer head. She was still mad at the Doctor and that wasn’t something that could just be fixed with one good night’s sleep but she now felt like she could at least be in the same room as him without shouting. And she also felt that they both owed Martha an apology and a nice trip out. Her choice.

Rose entered the console room to see the Doctor tinkering underneath the console like he usually did. Martha was sitting on the jump seat asking him random questions about the time machine and making faces whenever she didn’t understand the answer, which, considering the Doctor’s fondness for technical gibberish, was quite often.

‘I was thinking…’ said Rose from the doorway and the Doctor startled and banged his head on the console.

‘Ow!’ he cried as he got out from underneath the console, rubbing his head. ‘Didn’t hear you come in.’ 

He didn’t seem to be able to look her in the eye, which suited Rose just fine as she was having trouble doing the same thing.

‘I was thinking,’ repeated Rose, ‘that Martha should decide where we go next.’ Rose could see the relief wash over the Doctor. No doubt he had expected her to bring up their argument.

Martha paused for a moment, looking thoughtful before her expression became cheerful again. ‘I’m fine with anywhere,’ she said. ‘You guys know more about the universe than me.’

‘No, come on, none of that. There must be somewhere you want to go. There’s all sorts of planets out there.’

The Doctor nodded. ‘Beautiful beaches; tranquil forests; mountains that go on forever. Take your pick.’

‘Actually…’ started Martha but she fell silent, seemingly unsure of herself.

‘Yes?’ encouraged the Doctor.

‘Actually, I’d like to go home.’ 

Both the Doctor and Rose’s faces fell. 

‘Just for a visit,’ said Martha quickly, noticing their disappointed looks. ‘I just miss my family a bit, you know?’

Rose nodded. She knew how that felt. Her family was a whole universe away and for the first time since she had said goodbye to them, it felt like it. Not even her super-phone could reach her Mum now. But the same couldn’t be said for Martha’s family.

Before Rose could say anything, the Doctor had walked over to Martha and held his hand out. ‘Oh well, that’s easy fixed. Give me your phone. I’ll give it an upgrade.’

Martha looked skeptical but gave him her mobile nevertheless. After a bit of jiggery-pokery, the Doctor handed it back to her. ‘Right, there we go. Universal roaming. Never have to worry about a signal again.’

Martha looked at the phone in her hand in wonder. ‘No way. This is too mad. You're telling me I can phone anyone, anywhere in space and time on my mobile?’  
  
‘As long as you know the area code. Frequent flier's privilege. Give it a try. Call your Mum.’

Martha smiled as she dialed the number. There was a pause before her mum picked up. ‘Mum?’ she asked, surprised but delighted that her new super-phone worked.

Rose slowly paced the console room, trying her best to avoid looking at the Doctor and trying not to listen in on Martha’s conversation. That last bit became quite difficult when Martha’s voice rose with excitement. ‘No way! Of course I’ll be there,’ she told her mother. ‘Right, see you then. Love you.’

She hung up the phone and walked up to the console.

‘My sister was on TV,’ she told them. ‘She's got a new job at some research lab. The head professor there is revealing some big project and Tish apparently had a big part in setting it up.’

‘Oh, that’s brilliant. Good for her,’ said Rose just as the Doctor asked ‘What sort of experiment?’

Martha shrugged. ‘Dunno. I didn’t get to see the press conference on the telly, I was too busy hanging out with Shakespeare.’ Her face fell into an expression that was almost disappointed. ‘I would have liked to have seen Tish on TV,’ she said softly. ‘I wonder if Mum taped it. Or maybe it’s on the Internet.’

The Doctor moved over to the console screen. ‘We can use the TARDIS to pick it up,’ he said as he turned a few dials on the console. ‘Here we go. Press conference for Professor Lazarus.’

Martha quickly moved over to see the screen and Rose moved behind her to watch over her shoulder.

An older gentleman on the television was addressing the reporters. ‘With the push of a single button, I will change what it means to be human,’ he said. Rose glanced at the Doctor, and saw him twitch. It seemed like a nice quiet trip was off the cards for today.

‘I’ve been invited to the event,’ said Martha. 

‘How is he going to change what it means to be human?’ asked the Doctor.

Martha shrugged. ‘How am I supposed to know?’

‘You want to check it out, don’t you?’ said Rose and the Doctor nodded. ‘Well, we’ll have to use the psychic paper, I doubt Martha could get away with inviting a plus two. And I’m not being a waitress this time.’

The Doctor went to protest but Rose shot him a glare and he backed down. ‘Fine,’ he sighed. ‘We’ll be guests.’ He started moving around the console, flicking switches. ‘Alright-y then. Earth, London, Martha’s flat, 2008, they day after we left.’

‘Just make sure it’s not a whole year this time,’ muttered Rose under her breath. She could tell that the Doctor had heard her by the way he paused for a second before pulling down the leaver that would send them on their way.

\----

The TARDIS made it’s usual groaning noise as it landed. 

‘There we go,’ said the Doctor. ‘Perfect landing. Which isn’t easy in such a tight spot.’

‘You should be used to tight spots by now,’ said Martha before exiting the TARDIS. 

They stepped out of the TARDIS and into Martha’s living room. The Doctor wasn’t kidding about it being a tight spot, the flat looked tiny… but that could have had something to do with the giant big blue box in the middle of it. 

‘You did it, I’m home.’

‘Of course I did,’ said the Doctor, slightly offended. ‘In fact, the morning after we left, so you've only been gone less than twenty-four hours. No time at all, really.’ He sent Rose a pointed look which she rolled her eyes at. 

‘But all the stuff we've done. Shakespeare, New New York, old New York?’ 

The Doctor was peering around the flat. ‘Yep, all in one night, relatively speaking. Everything should be just as it was. Books, CDs…’ He picked up a pair of knickers that had been hanging on an air drier. ‘Laundry.’ Martha quickly grabbed the item of clothing and tucked it away behind her, clearly embarrassed. The Doctor didn’t notice. ‘So, I suppose we had better leave you to get ready.’

Rose felt a spark of panic. She wasn’t ready to be alone with the Doctor just yet. ‘Martha, why don’t you pick something out from the TARDIS wardrobe with me?’ she asked. ‘Unless you already have something picked out, of course.’ 

‘I’d love to,’ said Martha grinning.

Rose grinned back and nodded towards the TARDIS. ‘Come on, then.’ 

The pair entered the TARDIS, leaving a very awkward looking Doctor standing in the middle of Martha’s living room. 

Rose poked her head back out the door. ‘It’s black tie so you had better get changed too. No pinstripes.’ 

She had already made it half way across the console room before she heard the Doctor humph in annoyance.

\----

Rose sat in the TARDIS wardrobe’s comfortable armchair as Martha did a spin in the latest dress she was trying. This one was bright blue. ‘What do you think?’ she asked.

‘You look like a Disney princess,’ said Rose, trying her best to be cheerful. She was enjoying trying on dresses with Martha but she just couldn’t shake the hurt feeling left over from the previous night’s argument with the Doctor. Plus she couldn’t find a dress that fit her properly whilst every single one Martha had tried on had looked stunning on her.

Martha must have noticed Rose’s distress because her smile faded and she came to sit on the chair next to her. ‘Do you want to talk about it?’ she asked.

Rose gave her a small smile. ‘There’s not much to say.’

‘Why don’t you go talk to him?’

‘What good would it do? You’ve only known him a couple of days but you’ve already realised his habit of talking non-stop but never actually saying anything.’

There was an awkward pause while neither woman knew quite what to say next.

‘Sorry about the moon landing,’ said Rose. ‘Again.’

Martha gave her a sympathetic smile. ‘Don’t worry about it. You were obviously hurting.’

‘Yeah,’ said Rose, looking at her feet.

Martha slapped her hands on her thighs before standing up. ‘Right, I’m not having you just sitting here in self-pity. This is what we’re going to do. We’re going to go to the party and we are going to investigate this Lazarus bloke. We’re going to save everyone from whatever danger arises, because you and the Doctor seem to attract danger like magnets, _and_ , we’re going to do it all in heels.’ 

Rose laughed. ‘I don’t think I can run in heels.’ 

‘Okay, so we’ll skip the heels. So, what do you reckon? What say we put on the two most gorgeous dresses the TARDIS has to offer and show the Doctor what he’s missing out on?’

\----

The Doctor was fiddling with his tie when Martha walked in. ‘What do you think?’ she asked gesturing to her sleek black dress.

‘Very nice,’ said the Doctor, still fiddling with his tie. ‘Oh I hate black tie. Whenever I wear this, something bad always happens.’

Martha laughed. ‘It's not the outfit, that's just you. Anyway, I think it suits you. In a James Bond kind of way.’ 

The Doctor preened and took his hand away from his tie. ‘James Bond? Really?’

‘What about James Bond?’ asked Rose, walking into the room, putting on an earing as she went.

The Doctor turned to look at her and had to mentally stop his jaw from falling right to the floor. The dress she wore was a deep blue with a just a little bit of glitter to make it look like a starry night. It took the Doctor about point-five of a second to notice that the skirt slit travelled nearly all the way up her leg. He forced himself to look away from it and focused on her hair instead. It was done up somewhat like it had been when they had met Charles Dickens. To say she looked beautiful would have been a massive understatement. 

The Doctor didn’t let on any of this, though. He was still a bit annoyed at her (or maybe it was more at himself) because of their fight. 

‘Nothing,’ he said, answering her question and turning away to face the doors. ‘Come on, time we were going.’

‘We’re not taking the TARDIS?’ asked Martha as they walked down towards the door.

‘Nah. Don’t want to let a magnificent time machine such as this fall into the hands of some scientist that wants to change what it means to be human.’

‘Plus we can’t trust his driving,’ said Rose as she sauntered past him. She was being sexy on purpose, he just knew it.

He decided to ignore her comment and instead focused on the journey to Lazarus Laboratories.

\----

They entered the reception room of the building and the Doctor’s eyes immediately zeroed in on the chamber in the middle of the room. It was hooked up to a mass of computers. 

That ominous feeling that the Doctor already had suddenly had a growth spurt. Just what was Lazarus up to? You couldn’t change what it meant to be human. Rose was living proof of that. Her whole biology had changed but she was still so human.

The Doctor fought back the guilt that once again threatened to surface. Rose was still in the “honeymoon” period of her change. She had yet to see the severity of a long life, but she would. And she would blame him. And on top of that, he had almost gone and abandoned her. 

He knew why she was upset and he knew she had every right to be, but it still didn’t change the fact that he was also right to do what he did. He did what he had to save New York, to save _her_. Why couldn’t she see that?

Okay, maybe there was a tiny bit of self-punishment involved with his decision making, but still.

His chain of thought was interrupted by a waiter walking past with a tray of nibbles. A distraction. Thank god for that!

‘Oh, look, they've got nibbles! I love nibbles,’ he said taking a handful. Out of the corner of his eye, he thought he saw Rose hide a smile. 

Martha’s sister walked up and greeted them.

‘Tish,’ cried Martha, giving her sister a hug.

‘You look great,’ said Tish. ‘So, what do you think? Impressive, isn't it?’  
  
‘Very.’ 

‘And two nights out in a row for you. That's dangerously close to a social life.’ 

‘If I keep this up, I'll end up in all the gossip columns.’ 

‘You might, actually. You should keep an eye out for photographers. And Mum, she's coming too. Even dragging Leo along with her.’ 

‘Leo in black tie? That I must see. Oh and this is the Doctor and this is Rose.’

‘Hello,’ said the Doctor after quickly gulping down his remaining food.

‘Nice to meet you,’ said Rose, shaking Tish’s hand.

‘Are they with you?’ 

‘We just sort of ran into her here,’ said Rose and she nudged the Doctor with her elbow.

The Doctor quickly got the hint and pulled out the psychic paper. ‘Special invitation,’ he said. Tish looked like she was going to ask more questions so he quickly carried on. ‘So, this Lazarus, he's your boss?’ 

‘Professor Lazarus, yes,’ said Tish, obviously still a bit suspicious. ‘I'm part of his executive staff.’ 

‘She's head of the PR department,’ said Martha proudly. ‘Mum told me on the phone. Congratulations, Tish.’

‘Thanks. I put this whole thing together, you know?’

‘It looks great,’ said Rose and Tish smiled and relaxed a little. The Doctor once again marvelled at how Rose could put anyone at ease with just a few words.

‘So do you know what the professor's going to be doing tonight?’ he asked Tish. He nodded to the device in the middle of the room. ‘That looks like it might be a sonic microfield manipulator.’

Tish glanced at Martha. ‘He's a science geek. I should have known. Got to get back to work now. I'll catch up with you later.’

She left to go do whatever the head of PR was expected to do at these sorts of things. The Doctor wasn’t exactly an expert on the subject. 

‘Science geek?’ he asked once Tish was out of earshot. ‘What does that mean?’ 

‘That your obsessively enthusiastic about it,’ said Martha. 

‘Oh.’ He smiled. ‘Nice.’

Martha’s mother (the Doctor recognised her voice from the night he picked Martha up) approached them, accompanied by Martha’s brother. 

‘Mum!’ said Martha and she wrapped her arms around her mother. 

‘All right, what's the occasion?’ asked Mrs. Jones, confused but not all that opposed to the unexpected hug. 

‘What do you mean? I'm just pleased to see you, that's all.’ 

‘You saw me last night.’

Martha stammered a bit. ‘I know. I just missed you.’ She quickly turned her attention over to her brother. ‘You're looking good, Leo.’ 

‘Yeah. If anyone asks me to fetch them a drink, I'll swing for him.’

Rose laughed at that, catching Martha’s mother’s attention.

‘These are friends of mine,’ said Martha, noticing her mother’s inquisitive stare. ‘The Doctor and Rose.’ She turned to Rose and the Doctor and gestured towards her family. ‘This is my mum, Francine, and my brother, Leo.’ 

‘Doctor what?’ asked Francine.

‘No, it's just the Doctor,’ said Martha. ‘We've been doing some work together.’ 

‘You all right, mate?’ said Leo holding his hand out. The Doctor shook it eagerly and then held his hand out to Francine.

‘It's lovely to meet you, Mrs. Jones,’ he said. He was not going to muck up another first meeting with a friend’s mother. Memories of Jackie’s slap echoed across his mind. ‘Heard a lot about you.’ 

‘Have you?’ asked Francine suspiciously. ‘What have you heard, then?’

The Doctor faltered. He wasn’t expecting her to question it. ‘Oh, you know, that you're Martha's mother and… um, no, actually, that's about it. We haven't had much time to chat. You know, been busy.’ 

‘Busy? Doing what, exactly?’ 

‘Studying mostly,’ said Rose, quickly butting in with a smile and shaking Francine’s hand. ‘I’m training to be a doctor too.’

Francine still seemed a bit suspicious but at least her gaze had become less accusing and more questioning. The Doctor sent Rose a grateful half smile, one that she did not return.

The sound of metal being tapped on glass filled the room and everyone fell silent and faced Professor Lazarus.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, I am Professor Richard Lazarus and tonight I am going to perform a miracle. It is, I believe, the most important advance since Rutherford split the atom, the biggest leap since Armstrong stood on the moon.’ 

And there was another thing for the Doctor to be guilty about. He had ruined Martha’s moon landing trip… twice. 

‘Tonight, you will watch and wonder,’ continued Lazarus. ‘Tomorrow, you will wake to a world which will be changed forever.’

Lazarus secured himself inside the glass chamber and two scientists started up the machine. The four columns started to spin around the chamber at great speed and light shone through the glass, causing everyone to shield their eyes with their hands.

An alarm sounded.

‘Something's wrong,’ said the Doctor. ‘It's overloading.’

The computer sparked and smoked as the columns spun even faster. The Doctor leapt over the computers and got out his sonic screwdriver. ‘Somebody stop him,’ said a posh looking old lady. ‘Get him away from those controls!’ 

‘If this thing goes up, it'll take the whole building with it. Is that what you want?’ asked the Doctor, a little bit angrier than he had intended to. He pulled out a power cable and the machine slowed down to a stop. 

‘Get it open!’ he shouted to Martha and Rose who had both rushed to the chamber. They obliged and stood back as smoke poured out of the open door.

Professor Lazarus stepped out of the chamber but he was no longer the old man who had walked in there. He now had the body of someone forty years younger. He held out his arms in celebration. ‘Ladies and gentlemen, I am Richard Lazarus. I am seventy six years old and I am reborn!’

The whole room erupted into applause.


	18. The Lazarus Experiment Part Two

Rose watched the professor talking to some photographers. ‘How did he do it?’ she asked. 

‘It can't be the same guy,’ said Martha. ‘It's impossible. It must be a trick.’ 

‘Oh, it's not a trick,’ said the Doctor darkly. ‘I wish it were.’ 

‘What just happened then?’ 

‘He changed what it means to be human,’ said Rose as she watched the old lady from before (Martha had called her Lady Thaw) approach Lazarus. ‘Let’s go have a word, shall we?’

She strode across the room and the Doctor and Martha had to run a little to catch up with her. They reached him just in time to see him stiffen and gasp. It only lasted for a second however and then he was quickly grabbing food from a waiter’s tray and stuffing it n his mouth. ‘I'm famished,’ he said. 

‘Energy deficit,’ said the Doctor. ‘Always happens with this kind of process.’ 

Lazarus turned to face him. ‘You talk as if you see this every day, Mister?’ 

‘Doctor. And well, no, not every day, but I have some experience of this kind of transformation.’ 

‘That's not possible.’ 

‘Using hypersonic sound waves to create a state of resonance. That's inspired.’ 

Rose nodded as if she understood what that meant. 

‘You understand the theory, then,’ said Lazarus. 

‘Enough to know that you couldn't possibly have allowed for all the variables,’ replied the Doctor.

‘No experiment is entirely without risk,’ said Lazarus, popping more food into his mouth. 

‘That thing nearly exploded, back there,’ said Rose. How could this man be so unconcerned? ‘It could have killed all of us, including you.’ 

‘You're not qualified to comment,’ said Lady Thaw.

‘If I hadn't stopped it, it would have exploded,’ said the Doctor. 

‘Then I thank you, Doctor,’ said Lazarus. ‘But that's a simple engineering issue. What happened inside the capsule was exactly what was supposed to happen. No more, no less.’ 

‘You've no way of knowing that until you've run proper tests,’ said Martha.

‘Look at me,’ countered Lazarus with a laugh. ‘You can see what happened. I'm all the proof you need.’ 

‘This device will be properly certified before we start to operate commercially,’ said Lady Thaw and Rose almost choked. Did they seriously want to _sell_ these machines?

‘Commercially?’ asked Martha, clearly thinking the same thing. ‘You are joking. That'll cause chaos.’ 

‘Not chaos,’ said Lazarus. ‘Change. A chance for humanity to evolve, to improve.’ 

‘This isn't about improving,’ said the Doctor, his eyes dark. ‘This is about you and your customers living a little longer.’ Something about this had really struck a nerve with him. Not surprising, really. 

‘Not a little longer, Doctor. A _lot_ longer. Perhaps indefinitely.’

Rose cringed internally. The timing for a problem of this nature couldn’t be worse. Not with the Doctor already upset about her own lengthened life expectancy.  
  
‘Richard, we have things to discuss, upstairs,’ said Lay Thaw matter-of-factly and she strode off. Lazarus began to follow but turned to face them.

‘Goodbye, Doctor. In a few years, you'll look back and laugh at how wrong you were.’ He held out his hand to Martha and she took it expecting a handshake but instead Lazarus leaned down and kissed it. He paid no attention to the disgusted look on Martha’s face and he turned and made his way upstairs. 

‘Oh, he's out of his depth,’ said the Doctor. ‘No idea of the damage he might have done.’  
  
‘So what do we do now?’ asked Martha. 

‘Now? Well, this building must be full of laboratories. I say we do our own tests.’ 

‘With what?’ asked Rose.

‘If only we had a DNA sample,’ said Martha, feigning sorrow. ‘Oh wait,’ she held up the hand that Lazarus had just kissed and grinned, ‘we do.’ 

Both the Doctor and Rose beamed at her.

‘Oh, Martha Jones, you're a star.’

\----

The Doctor, Rose, and Martha were looking at an image of a strand of Lazarus’s DNA on a computer screen. It hadn’t taken them long to find a vacant laboratory to do their testing in. 

‘Amazing,’ whispered the Doctor.

Rose wasn’t sure what he meant. The DNA strand looked normal enough to her. ‘What’s amazing?’ she asked. 

‘Lazarus's DNA.’

‘I can't see anything different,’ said Martha and Rose felt a little less stupid. Martha was training to be a doctor, and if she couldn’t see it, what hope did a shop girl have? (Although Rose knew herself to be much more than just a shop girl these days.) 

‘Look at it,’ insisted the Doctor.

There was some sort of fluctuation on the screen. 

‘Oh, my God. Did that just change?’ asked Martha. ‘But it can't have.’ 

‘But it did,’ said Rose. ‘So the question is, why?’ 

‘But it's impossible.’ 

‘And that's two impossible things we've seen so far tonight,’ said the Doctor before smiling. ‘Don't you love it when that happens?’ 

‘That means Lazarus has changed his own molecular patterns,’ said Martha and Rose was lost again. The Doctor’s following wave of scientific gibberish didn’t help.

‘Basically, he hacked into his own genes and instructed them to rejuvenate,’ he said to Rose, seeing her blank look.

Rose huffed. ‘I could see that when he walked out of that thing forty years younger.’ 

‘But they're still mutating now,’ said Martha.

‘Because he missed something,’ said the Doctor. ‘Something in his DNA has been activated and won't let him stabilise. Something that's trying to change him.’  
  
‘Change him into what?’ 

‘I don't know, but I think we need to find out.’ 

‘Lady Thaw said they were going upstairs.’  
  
‘Let's go,’ said the Doctor, moving towards the door.

\----

The Doctor flicked on the lights to Lazarus’s office and the three of them cautiously walked inside. The office was huge. A large wooden desk stood at one end next to a big window that overlooked the city.

‘Where are they?’ asked Rose, more to herself than anything.

‘This is his office, all right,’ said Martha. ‘Maybe we should try back at the reception…’ Martha trailed off and started to walk towards the desk. The Doctor and Rose followed.

Behind the desk was a body, or, more accurately, what was left of a body. It seemed to have been drained dry. There was nothing left but skin and bones. 

‘Is that Lady Thaw?’ asked Martha. 

The Doctor knelt down for a closer look. ‘Used to be. Now it's just a shell. Had all the life energy drained out, like squeezing the juice out of an orange.’

‘She’s a person, not an it,’ said Rose angrily. ‘Even if she wasn’t a particularly nice person, she still deserves a little respect.’

The Doctor looked up at Rose and then back down to Lady Thaw. ‘Sorry,’ he muttered.

‘Was it Lazarus?’ asked Martha. 

‘Could be.’ 

‘So he's changed already?’ 

‘Not necessarily. You saw the DNA. It was fluctuating. The process must demand energy. This might not have been enough.’ 

‘So he could do this again?’ asked Rose. ‘He could kill someone else?’ The Doctor nodded. ‘Well, we had better go find him then.’ 

The three of them ran to the lifts and pushed the button that would lead them to the reception area.

‘We should get everyone out,’ said Rose.

‘We don’t want to startle Lazarus or make him upset,’ said the Doctor. ‘It could trigger the change.’

‘But these people are in danger! Can’t we fake a fire alarm or something?’

The lift made a ding and the doors opened to the reception area. Everybody was chatting and enjoying themselves, oblivious to the danger they were in.

‘If you can get everyone out without alerting Lazarus, be my guest,’ said the Doctor.

‘Shouldn’t be too hard,’ said Rose looking around the room. ‘He’s not here.’

‘He can't be far.’ 

‘Hey, you all right, Marth?’ asked Leo as they passed him. ‘I think Mum wants to talk to you.’  
  
‘Have you see Lazarus anywhere?’ asked Martha. 

‘Yeah, well, he was getting cosy with Tish a couple of minutes ago.’

Martha paled. ‘With Tish?’ 

Francine decided that she would pick the worst possible moment to appear and approached the Doctor. ‘Ah, Doctor,’ she began but the Doctor ignored her.  
  
‘Where did they go?’ he asked Leo. 

‘Upstairs, I think. Why?’ 

‘Doctor,’ Francine tried again but the Doctor ran past her, knocking her drink all over her.

‘Sorry,’ shouted Rose over her shoulder as she ran after him.

They reached the lift doors again. ‘We must have just missed them,’ said Martha, her panic starting to build.

‘It will be all right,’ said Rose. ‘You’ll find her.’

‘What do you mean, “ _you’ll_ find her”?’ asked the Doctor.

‘I’m staying. These people are sitting ducks down here.’ The Doctor went to argue but Rose cut him off. ‘I promise I won’t do anything that will tip off Lazarus but I gotta at least try. Even if no one listens.’

It took a moment but the Doctor nodded his understanding.

The lift doors opened and the Doctor and Martha once again headed up to Lazarus’s office.

Rose turned back to the crowd, a bit unsure of where to start. Francine was probably not the best person to start with so instead she focused on Martha’s brother.

‘Sorry, Leo, right?’ she asked as she approached him.

Leo smiled. ‘Yeah, that’s me. And it was Rose, wasn’t it? How are you enjoying the party?’

‘All a bit posh for me.’

‘Me too.’

Rose didn’t really have time for small talk so she shifted the conversation to the matter at hand. ‘What do you think of Lazarus’s machine?’ she asked. ‘Do you think it’s safe?’

‘Well, it was touch and go for a minute there but it seems to be okay now that it’s turned off.’

‘I’m not sure it is. See, I know a thing or two about this sort of thing and using hypersonic sound waves to create a state of resonance can have some pretty nasty after effects,’ said Rose, borrowing the Doctor’s words from earlier and hoping to God that Leo didn’t have a degree in Mechanical Engineering or anything like that. Judging by his blank look, he didn’t.

‘I thought you were training to be a doctor?’

‘I study both. Bit of a genius me, don’t tell anyone.’ 

Leo laughed. Rose wasn’t sure if he believed her.

‘So, can you help me get everyone out?’ she asked. ‘I don’t want to cause a panic but I think it’s probably best.’

Leo put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Look, I’m sure you know a lot about this sort of thing, but I’m sure they do too.’ He nodded to the two scientists next to the machine. ‘If there were any after effects to worry about, I’m sure they would let us know.’

Rose nodded, recognising a lost cause when she saw one. She thanked Leo and moved on to the next person.

Three people later, Rose was on the verge of setting off the fire alarm. No one was listening to her. 

Suddenly the lights switched off and an alarm started to sound, causing the band to stop playing and the guests to pause their happy chatter.

An announcement came over the PA.

_Security one. Security one. Security one._

‘That can’t be good,’ said Rose to herself.

The Doctor, Martha, and Tish appeared from the stairway and Rose ran over to them.

‘What’s going on?’ she asked.

‘Lazarus is breaking in,’ said Martha. ‘I thought you were getting people out.’

‘I tried but no one would listen.’

‘Tish, is there another way out of here?’ asked the Doctor. 

‘There's an exit in the corner, but it'll be locked now.’

The Doctor handed Rose the sonic screwdriver. ‘Get everyone out. Hurry. It won’t take long for Lazarus to get in.’ 

‘I’m on it,’ said Rose, changing the setting on the sonic and heading to the exit. She heard the Doctor yell out to the guests. 

‘Listen to me! You people are in serious danger! You need to get out of here right now!’ 

‘Not you too,’ said one of the women Rose had spoken to earlier. ‘Don't be ridiculous. The biggest danger here is choking on an olive.’

A crash and a growl from above caused Rose to stop sonicking the door and look up. A hideous creature jumped down into the reception area, smashing a table on its way. _That_ was what Lazarus had changed into? Rose almost felt sorry for him. He had become a cross between a huge skeleton and a huge scorpion. The end result was quite horrific.

People began to scream and panic. ‘Sure, now you believe me,’ muttered Rose as she focused the sonic on the door once more. It unlocked with a click and she pushed it open. ‘Everyone, this way!’ she shouted.

She heard the Doctor shout at Lazarus as she led the way down the stairs.

She reached the outer doors and tried to use the sonic to unlock them but everyone was pushing her away, trying to get through the doors in a blind panic.

Martha appeared at the foot of the stairs with her family.

‘I can’t get through,’ she told them. ‘They’re all panicking too much.’

‘There must be an override switch,’ said Martha. She turned to Tish. ‘Where's the security desk?’ 

‘There,’ said Tish, pointing to an alcove in the back wall.

Rose, ever so grateful that she had decided against the heels, ran and bounded over the desk (she hadn’t gotten that bronze gymnastics medal for nothing). She pointed the sonic screwdriver at the override switch and the lights switched on and front doors slid open, allowing the panicked mob to spill out of the building.

‘Where’s the Doctor?’ she asked Martha.

‘He led Lazarus away.’ 

Damn it. Not again.

‘I’m going back in,’ said Rose and she took off back up the stairs.

She paused as she entered the reception room; it was trashed. Broken chairs and tables were strewn all over the floor, as well as food that had been squashed by the stampede of people fleeing the room. There was one solitary husk on the floor.

Rose did a quick sweep of the room to make sure there was no one left in there and then started to move upstairs. She had only made it up two steps when she heard Martha run into the reception room behind her. She smiled a bit at her friend’s bravery. Were they friends now? She hoped so.

‘This way,’ she called out and waited for Martha to reach her.

‘Where do you think he is?’ asked Martha as they made their way to the next floor.

An explosion sounded from the other side of the building. Rose and Martha looked at each other.

‘That’s him.’

\----

The Doctor got up and dusted himself off. Blowing the laboratory up had not been his best idea but it had bought him some time at least. Time which he did not intend on wasting standing about. 

He shot off down the hallway and rounded a corner… and ran straight into Martha and Rose.

‘What are two you doing here?’ he asked.

‘Thought you might need us,’ said Martha.

‘And this,’ added Rose, holding up the sonic screwdriver. 

The Doctor took the screwdriver and pocketed it. ‘How did you do find me?’ he began to ask but Rose cut him off before he could finish. 

‘Huge explosion. Of course it was you.’

The Doctor nodded. Made sense. ‘I blasted Lazarus,’ he explained needlessly.

‘Did you kill him?’ asked Martha. 

A growl echoed from behind him.

‘More sort of annoyed him, I'd say.’

‘I think that means it’s time to run,’ said Rose and the three of them ran towards the stairs and down to the reception room.

‘What now?’ asked Martha. ‘We've just gone round in a circle.’ 

The Doctor made a snap decision. He had a plan, well, part of a plan, a plan that mainly consisted of not letting Lazarus get out of the building. ‘We can't lead him outside,’ he said as he ran to Lazarus’s Microfield Manipulation Chamber. He held the door open. ‘Come on, get in.’ 

Rose and Martha looked at each other worryingly.

‘Are we all gonna fit?’ asked Martha. ‘It’s a bit of a tight squeeze.’ 

Any doubts she had were quelled by the sound of Lazarus coming down the stairs. Rose and Martha quickly got in the chamber and the Doctor followed and shut the door.

Martha was right; it was a tight squeeze. The Doctor tried to control his breathing as he found himself pressed flush up against Rose, who in turn had her back pressed against Martha.

The Doctor tried to move his hand to get his screwdriver but knocked it against someone’s hip. ‘Sorry,’ he muttered.

‘So, what’s the plan then?’ asked Rose.

‘Are we hiding?’ whispered Martha. 

‘No, he knows we're here,’ said the Doctor, once again trying to get his screwdriver. This time he was successful. ‘But this is his masterpiece. I'm betting he won't destroy it, not even to get at us.’ 

‘But we're trapped.’ 

‘Well, yeah, that's a slight problem.’

Rose rolled her eyes. ‘Seriously Doctor, what’s the plan?’ 

‘The plan was to get inside here.’ 

‘Then what?’ 

The Doctor faltered. ‘Well, then I'd come up with another plan.’

Rose rolled her eyes again but the Doctor was sure he saw her mouth twitch into a smile for a moment.  
  
‘In your own time, then,’ said Martha.

‘Right, sorry.’ He held the sonic screwdriver up. ‘Okay, next part of the plan.’

‘Which is?’

‘Improvise,’ said the Doctor as he slid down to the bottom of the chamber.

‘Watch it!’ said Rose as he accidentally knocked her leg, almost sending her sprawling down on top of him.

‘Sorry,’ he said as he opened up a panel at the floor of the machine. 

He started to fiddle with the wires of the machine but he was finding it very hard to concentrate. The slit in Rose’s dress was revealing quite a bit of her slender leg. A leg that was very close to the side of his head.

‘I still don't understand where that thing came from. Is it alien?’ asked Martha, bringing the Doctor back to the situation at hand. Good. He needed to focus on dealing with the immediate problem of being cornered by a gigantic hungry mutant. 

Get out of danger first, fantasise later.

‘No, for once it's strictly human in origin,’ he said, answering Martha’s question. 

‘Didn’t look very human to me,’ said Rose.

‘It’s probably from dormant genes in Lazarus's DNA. The energy field in this thing must have reactivated them. And it looks like they're becoming dominant.’  
  
‘So it's a throwback,’ summarised Martha. 

The Doctor nodded though he knew they probably couldn’t see him. ‘Some option that evolution rejected for you millions of years ago, but the potential is still there. Locked away in your genes, forgotten about until Lazarus unlocked it by mistake.’  
  
‘It's like Pandora's box.’  
  
‘Exactly. Nice shoes, by the way.’ She was wearing black flats to match her dress. The Doctor noticed that Rose was wearing the exact same shoes just in a deep blue. They must have been expecting the running. 

The chamber was suddenly filled with a bright blue light and a shrill sound filled the room.

‘Please tell me that was you,’ said Rose.

‘Afraid not,’ said the Doctor. ‘Lazarus has switched the machine on.’ 

‘And that's not good, is it?’ asked Martha. 

‘Well, I was hoping it was going to take him a little bit longer to work that out.’ 

Lights started to flash.

‘I don't want to hurry you, but…’ 

‘I know, I know,’ said the Doctor, sonicking the wires. ‘Nearly done.’  
  
‘What are you doing?’ asked Rose. 

‘I'm trying to set the capsule to reflect energy rather than receive it.’ 

‘Will that kill it?’ asked Martha.  
  
‘When he transforms, he's three times his size. Cellular triplication. So he's spreading himself thin.’

‘We're going to end up like him!’ cried Martha, starting to panic. 

‘Just one more!’ said the Doctor as he pulled a switch.

A blast of energy shot out from the chamber and the Doctor heard Lazarus get thrown backwards and hit the floor with a thump. The machine slowed to a stop and Rose opened the door to let them out. The Doctor got out at a bit of a crawl.

‘I thought we were going to go through the blender then,’ said Martha, calmer now.  
  
‘Really shouldn't take that long just to reverse the polarity,’ said the Doctor. ‘I must be a bit out of practice.’ Or a bit distracted.

His eyes flittered over the room, searching for Lazarus. He found him laying face down on the floor in the middle of the room. He was back to his human form.  
  
‘Oh, God. He seems so human again,’ said Martha. ‘It's kind of pitiful.’ 

‘Eliot saw that, too,’ said the Doctor. ‘This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang, but with a whimper.’

Martha called an ambulance and it wasn’t long before they were walking down the front steps, following the medics who were taking Lazarus away on a stretcher. The body was covered by a red sheet.

The Doctor undid his tie, mainly to give his hands something to do. He was itching to hold Rose’s hand as they walked but he held off. He wasn’t sure if the events of the night had lessened her anger towards him or worsened it.

Martha’s family approached them, Tish immediately hugging Martha. Francine however, was heading straight for the Doctor and he suddenly remembered that he had spilled her drink in his rush to find Lazarus earlier. Still, maybe there was a chance to redeem himself.

‘Ah, Mrs. Jones,’ he said with what he hoped was a friendly smile. ‘We still haven't finished our chat.’

_Slap._

‘Keep away from my daughter.’

Then again, maybe he would redeem himself another time. What was it about him that made his friends’ mothers want to hurt him? Well, maybe it was the whisking their daughters away to a life of danger. 

‘All of the mothers, every time,’ he muttered to himself.

‘Mum, what are you doing?’ asked Martha angrily.

‘He is dangerous,’ said Francine, placing her hands on Martha’s shoulders. ‘I've been told things.’ 

‘What are you talking about?’ said Martha just as Rose asked ‘What things?’

‘Look around you. Nothing but death and destruction.’ 

‘This isn't his fault,’ said Martha, shrugging her off. The Doctor felt a wave of gratitude towards her. ‘He saved us, all of us!’ 

‘And it was Tish who invited everyone to this thing in the first place,’ said Leo. ‘I'd say technically, it's her fault.’

The Doctor sensed a family dispute coming on and was almost relieved when they heard the crash from around the corner.

The Doctor ran to investigate, Rose close behind him.

They rounded a few corners and found the ambulance that had taken Lazarus away. It had crashed and the back doors were wide open. Two husks occupied the back; there was no sign of Lazarus.

Martha and Tish joined them and gasped at the scene.  
  
‘Lazarus, back from the dead,’ said the Doctor. ‘Should have known, really.’

He got out the sonic screwdriver and scanned the area. 

‘Where's he gone?’ asked Martha. 

‘That way,’ said the Doctor after finding the signal from Lazarus’s fluctuating DNA. ‘The church.’ 

\----

The group cautiously entered the Cathedral, the Doctor leading, holding the screwdriver out in front of him. The continual beeping told him they were getting closer. 

‘Do you think he's in here?’ whispered Martha. 

‘Where would you go if you were looking for sanctuary?’ said the Doctor as they walked deeper into the church.

They approached the alter and found Lazarus kneeling behind it, the red blanket draped around his human form. He was convulsing.

Lazarus turned to face them. ‘I came here before,’ he said. ‘A lifetime ago. I thought I was going to die then. In fact, I was sure of it. I sat here, just a child, the sound of planes and bombs outside.’ 

‘The Blitz,’ said the Doctor, walking closer to him. 

‘You've read about it.’ 

‘We were there,’ said Rose from next to the alter.

‘You're too young.’ 

‘So are you,’ said the Doctor.

Lazarus laughed but it turned into a sort of painful gargle as his body convulsed again.

When he stilled, he continued his story. ‘In the morning, the fires had died, and I was still alive. I swore I'd never face death like that again. So defenceless. I would arm myself, fight back, defeat it.’ 

‘That's what you were trying to do today?’ asked the Doctor, beginning to circle Lazarus. 

‘That's what I _did_ today.’ 

‘What about the other people who died?’ 

‘They were nothing. I changed the course of history.’ 

‘Any of them might have done too,’ said the Doctor angrily. ‘You think history's only made with equations? Facing death is part of being human. You can't change that.’ 

‘No, Doctor. Avoiding death, that's being human,’ countered Lazarus. ‘It's our strongest impulse, to cling to life with every fibre of being. I'm only doing what everyone before me has tried to do. I've simply been more successful.’

Rose scoffed.

‘Look at yourself. You're mutating!’ said the Doctor. ‘You've no control over it. You call that a success?’ 

‘I call it progress. I'm more now that I was. More than just an ordinary human.’ 

‘There's no such thing as an ordinary human,’ said the Doctor, glancing at Rose and Martha.

Lazarus convulsed again and the Doctor walked back towards his companions. 

‘He's going to change again any minute,’ whispered Martha. 

‘I know,’ said the Doctor, matching her hushed tone. ‘If I can get him up into the bell tower somehow, I've an idea that might work.’

Rose and Martha looked up. ‘Up there?’ asked Martha and the Doctor nodded. 

Lazarus seemed to have gained control again. ‘You're so sentimental, Doctor,’ he said. ‘Maybe you are older than you look.’

The Doctor walked over to him once more. ‘I'm old enough to know that a longer life isn't always a better one,’ he said. ‘In the end, you just get tired. Tired of the struggle, tired of losing everyone that matters to you, tired of watching everything turn to dust.’ The Doctor threw a quick glance at Rose but couldn’t read her expression. Maybe now she would understand why he had called his long life a curse. 

He looked back at Lazarus and kneeled beside him so that they were eye level. ‘If you live long enough, Lazarus, the only certainty left is that you'll end up alone.’  
  
Lazarus’s resolve didn’t waver. ‘That's a price worth paying.’ 

‘Is it?’ 

‘I will feed soon,’ said Lazarus matter-of-factly. He didn’t seem to have any remorse. Any guilt the Doctor had about what he would have to do vanished.  
  
‘I'm not going to let that happen.’ 

‘You've not been able to stop me so far,’ said Lazarus, almost tauntingly. 

‘Leave him alone!’ shouted Rose, stepping forward. ‘You don’t want him, he's old and brittle. You want something fresh, don’t ya?’

‘Rose, don’t,’ warned the Doctor as he realised what she was doing but it was too late. Lazarus lunged towards her and she, together with Martha and Tish, ran towards the stairs, leading Lazarus up the bell tower.


	19. The Lazarus Experiment Part Three

Rose led the other two women up towards the bell tower. She hoped that whatever the Doctor’s plan was, it would work… preferably very quickly. She was once again extremely grateful that she was wearing flats. Tish wasn’t so lucky. She obviously hadn’t expected her very nicely organised evening to end in running through a church, being chased by her boss. Still, she was keeping up quite well.

A sickening sound echoed up the stairwell.

‘Did you hear that?’ asked Tish. 

‘He's changed again,’ said Martha. ‘Keep moving. We've got to lead him up.’

The Doctor shouted to them from below and Rose and Martha paused to look over the edge.

‘Take him to the top,’ he shouted. ‘The very top of the bell tower, do you hear me?’  
  
‘Got it!’ Rose shouted back at him.

‘Martha,’ said Tish worryingly. 

‘Then what?’ Martha asked Rose, ignoring her sister. 

‘Martha, come on!’ said Tish more urgently. 

Rose and Martha turned to see Lazarus’s mutated form gaining on them. 

‘Run,’ said Rose and they took off again.

They kept running until they made it to the top of the bell tower, just like the Doctor had said. There was just one problem.

‘There's nowhere to go,’ said Tish. ‘We're trapped!’

The chamber they were in was small and circular. The walkway led around a hole in the middle of the room. Wooden slats were all that stood between them and a long fall down. There was no other exit.

‘This is where he said to bring him,’ said Martha as they made their way to the other side of the hole.

‘All right, so then we're not trapped. We're bait.’

‘He has a plan,’ said Rose in what she hoped was a confident tone. ‘Trust me, he knows what he’s doing.’ 

Lazarus appeared at the top of the stairs.

Rose stepped forward. ‘If you get the chance, get back down the stairs,’ she told the others.

‘I’m not leaving you up here,’ said Martha.

‘Nor me,’ said Tish.

‘You’ve got to,’ insisted Rose. ‘Look after your family.’

After a pause, Martha grabbed Tish’s arm and slowly led her along the wall away from Rose.

Music started to play from below.

‘Oi! Lazarus!’ shouted Rose, trying to get his attention. ‘Fresh meat, right here! What you waiting for?’

That was probably not the best thing to say. Lazarus jumped towards her, breaking the wooden slats as he went, and she ducked just in time. Well, almost just in time. His tail grazed along her ankle. Rose cried out as the pain shot through her leg and she stumbled… right over the edge.

She scrambled to hold onto the ledge but only succeeded for about two seconds before she fell.

She barely had enough time to scream before a pair of hands caught hers. Rose looked up to see Martha leaning half off the ledge.

‘I’ve got you.’

‘What about Lazarus?’ asked Rose but as soon as she had uttered the words, the music from below cranked up a notch. That must be the Doctor.

Rose heard Lazarus thrashing about above them. Whatever the Doctor was doing was working. But not quite quick enough, Martha was starting to slip.

‘Martha!’ cried Tish, though it was hard to hear her. The Doctor had turned the volume up even further and the sound was deafening. Rose longed to cover her ears. Then, just when Rose thought her eardrums would burst; Lazarus gave a big screech and fell past her over the ledge. 

The music abruptly stopped and Rose breathed a sigh of relief.

Tish appeared at the ledge and she helped Martha drag Rose back up to safety. The three of them collapsed onto the floor, breathing heavily.

‘Thanks,’ said Rose.

‘It’s your Doctor, you should be thanking,’ said Tish.

‘Rose! Martha!’ shouted the Doctor from below.

‘We’re okay!’ shouted Martha, hugging her sister. ‘We’re all okay!’

‘I told you he had a plan,’ said Rose, laughing a little.

‘He cut it a bit fine though, didn't he?’ said Tish, also beginning to laugh.

‘He always does,’ said Martha, grinning at Rose. ‘It's more fun that way.’

Rose grinned back. Martha was a fast learner.

‘Who is he?’ asked Tish. 

‘He’s the Doctor,’ said Martha.

‘That he is,’ said Rose. ‘Come on. We had better go check on him.’

She tried to get up but winced in pain. In all the worry about exploding eardrums and falling to her death, Rose had forgotten about her injured ankle. Her ankle, it seemed, did not like being forgotten.

She tried to take a step but stumbled. 

Martha caught her. ‘Let me take a look at that,’ she insisted.

‘Later,’ said Rose. ‘There’s nothing you can do up here. The TARDIS has all sorts of gizmos for this sort of thing. You’d love it. Let’s get back to the Doctor first. He tends to worry a lot.’

Tish grabbed Rose’s arm and put it over her shoulder. ‘I’ll help you down,’ she said and Rose gave her a grateful smile. 

Her smile turned to a grimace when she took her next step.

‘Just take it slowly,’ said Martha.

‘I will,’ said Rose. ‘You go on ahead.’

Martha nodded and started down the stairs. She didn’t go as quickly as Rose would have liked. She didn’t seem to want to stray too far.

Tish and Rose made it to the bottom level just in time to see the Doctor lift Martha up in a hug. Lazarus was lying on the floor behind them, hopefully dead this time.

The Doctor was laughing at something with Martha but his expression changed the instant he saw Rose and Tish walking across the room. Tish had let go of Rose’s arm but was still sticking close by in case Rose stumbled.

‘What happened?’ asked the Doctor as he ran over to them.

‘She…’ started Tish but Martha sent her a warning look and she trailed off.

‘Just had a little scrap,’ said Rose, trying to play it off. ‘You should see the other guy.’ She looked towards Lazarus. ‘Is he dead this time?’

The Doctor looked at her for a moment longer before he followed her gaze to the man on the floor.

‘Yeah.’

\----

Martha had watched in awe as the Doctor had treated Rose’s wound in the TARDIS med-bay. It didn’t hurt much anymore so Rose bid them a goodnight and made her way to her room, insisting that the Doctor show Martha all the medical equipment the TARDIS had to offer.

Rose sat on her bed and sighed. She really didn’t feel like sleeping. After a minute of indecision, she got up and walked (or maybe limped would have been a more accurate term) to the library.

She sat down on the couch and picked up her Harry Potter book that she had begun reading a couple of days ago.

She was halfway through her third chapter when the library door opened and the Doctor walked in.

‘Thought you might be here,’ he said. ‘How’s the ankle?’

‘Fine,’ said Rose, briefly looking up from her book.

He sat next to her in awkward silence for a minute before Rose put her book down and faced him. ‘I’m not getting to finish this chapter tonight, am I?’ she said. It was just her luck, the one time the Doctor actually wanted to talk was the one time she didn’t. But there was no avoiding it, it seemed.

‘Martha told me what you did today,’ he said. 'You could have been killed.’

‘It's not nice, is it? Being on the other side of the self-sacrifice thing,' said Rose. She sighed in frustration, she hadn’t meant to sound so harsh; she didn’t want to argue. There was an awkward pause before Rose spoke again. After hearing the Doctor talk to Lazarus, she understood why he done what he did in New York. It was guilt. ‘I know you feel guilty about what happened to me,’ she said, softer this time. ‘But you shouldn’t.’ She looked him in the eye so he would know she meant it. ‘Being alone isn’t always a certainty.’ She needed him to know that she wasn’t going anywhere unless he wanted her to.

Slowly, the Doctor nodded. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I didn’t want to die in New York, I really didn’t, but, at the time, it seemed like the only option.’

‘You scared me,’ said Rose. ‘What with it being so soon after the Plasmavore and all. I thought that maybe…’ She trailed off.

The Doctor seemed to know what she meant. ‘I would never want to leave you like that,’ he said and Rose could see it in his eyes that he was telling the truth.

She gave him a small smile. ‘Good. Just promise me you won’t do it again.’

‘Sometimes it’s the only way.’ Rose went to argue but he put up a hand to stop her. ‘You know I’m right, Rose. You did it yourself today.’ Rose backed down, she couldn’t argue with that one. ‘Sometimes sacrificing ourselves is the only thing we can do to protect those we… those around us. So I can't promise it will never happen again, but I will promise to try and make it less… frequent.’ 

There was a moment’s pause while Rose let his words sink in. He was right. Of course he was. But that didn’t make it easier to accept.

Rose sighed. ‘And I’ll try and do the same.’

The Doctor’s gaze flittered to her ankle. ‘How is it, really?’

‘Still twinges a little,’ she admitted.

‘I’m not surprised,’ said the Doctor. ‘An ordinary human would still be on crutches.’

‘Ah but there’s no such thing as an ordinary human,’ said Rose, echoing his words from earlier.

The Doctor smiled. ‘There most certainly isn’t,’ he agreed.

Rose matched his smile.

‘Speaking of extraordinary humans. Where’s Martha?’ she asked.

‘She went to bed,’ said the Doctor. ‘I think showing her all that medical advancement must have exhausted her.’

‘Yes, definitely the medical equipment and not the seven foot mutant chasing her up ten flights of stairs.’

‘Well, that too.’

Rose laughed a little and the Doctor’s smile widened. She had missed that smile. It seemed like forever since she had seen it. 

‘Not too mention her having to haul me back up over the ledge,’ she added.

The Doctor adopted an expression of mock seriousness. ‘Yes,’ he nodded. ‘That definitely would be exhausting.’

Rose swatted his arm. ‘Oi!’

The Doctor laughed and Rose couldn’t help but join in.

After a minute, their laughter died down and Rose awkwardly pushed a stray strand of hair out of her face. ‘Actually, I might go to bed too,’ she said.

‘Do you need any help getting back?’ asked the Doctor.

‘Nah, I‘ll be fine.’

The Doctor looked like he wanted to argue but let it drop. ‘Kay,’ he said. 'Nighty-night.’

‘Night,’ said Rose as she slowly walked out of the library.

\----

The Doctor stared at the door that Rose has just walked out of. She had limped a little but she was already far further along in the healing process than any other human would have been. 

The Doctor thanked whatever deities were out there that a scratched ankle was all she had. She could have ended up a lot worse.

This whole adventure had been a nightmare right from the start. The danger and the running he could handle, but the nature of Lazarus’s experiment had hit just a little too close to home. Still, at least Rose now understood a bit more about why he wasn’t exactly thrilled about her extended lifespan. Well, that wasn’t strictly true. Part of him was very thrilled. Selfishly so.

The Doctor scrubbed his hands over his face and leaned back into the couch, trying to banish the thought. It didn’t work very well.

The past day had proven how much he needed Rose. They had only been fighting for a little over a day and he was already missing having her hand to hold. And her hugs. And her smile. That teasing grin she had given him tonight had been like a breath of fresh air. And her laughter had been like the sunshine after the rain. One day of arguing with Rose was one day too long.

The Doctor sighed. He was glad that he and Rose were moving on from their fight but he hadn’t been entirely truthful. Everything he had said had been the truth, he had just left out a couple of things. 

He had considered telling her about why he had offered himself up to the Daleks so easily. About how whenever he saw them, he was reminded of the Time War and what he had had to do to end it. How he was reminded of all the things he had done or caused to feel guilty over. 

But he didn’t. 

Not because Rose wouldn’t understand. Quite the opposite actually, she would understand too much and would be nothing but sympathetic and forgiving. And forgiveness was not something he deserved. Especially not now that he had condemned this amazing woman to a life where she would lose almost everyone she cared about. Everyone except him. 

The ever-present battle that raged in his head came to the forefront of his mind again. 

_What’s stopping you, you idiot?_

_But what if she leaves?_

_She promised you forever._

_But she didn’t know forever would be this long._

_She loves you. God knows why, but she does. Let yourself be happy._

_I don’t deserve her._

As always, guilt and cowardice won out.

The Doctor scrubbed both hands over his face again before getting up off of the couch. He needed to keep himself busy. Surely there was something he could tinker with in the console room. The TARDIS always need fixing or tweaking. Anything that would keep him distracted. Before he gave in to temptation.


	20. 42 Part One

It had been almost a week since their fight and the Doctor and Rose were almost back to normal. It did help that they hadn’t had to run for their lives since Lazarus’s ghastly experiment.

Another plus was that, without the threat of being shot at, eaten, or exterminated, Rose and Martha had really started to become friends. The Doctor had taken them to a planet entirely dedicated to cinema and they had had a fun couple of days of discussing movies (and fawning over movie stars) and discovering all the different types of films the universe had to offer.

But of course, spending a whole week away from danger was just too much to ask for.

Rose had only just entered the console room when the TARDIS shook. She grabbed hold of a rail to steady herself. ‘What was that?’ she asked.

‘Distress signal,’ said the Doctor reading the scanner and pressing buttons. ‘Locking on. Might be a bit of-’ The TARDIS lurched again. This time Rose didn’t have time to grab a safe hold and she fell to the floor along with Martha. ‘Turbulence. Sorry.’ 

Rose and Martha picked themselves up off of the floor and followed the Doctor who had already started running for the door. ‘Come on, let’s take a look,’ he shouted.

A waft of steam hit Rose’s face as she stepped out of the TARDIS. It looked like they were on a spaceship or space station of some kind… or possibly a factory. Wherever they were, it was boiling.

‘Whoa, now that is hot,’ said the Doctor. 

‘It's like a sauna in here,’ said Martha as her and Rose both shed a layer of clothing, leaving them in tank tops. It helped a little but not enough for Rose’s liking.  
   
‘Venting systems,’ said the Doctor, inspecting the ship/station/whatever-the-hell-they-were-in. ‘Working at full pelt, trying to cool down. Wherever it is we are. Well, if you can't stand the heat…’

He opened a bulkhead door and they went through to another chamber. This one was labeled Area 30. Rose was reminded of the Sanctuary Base on Krop Tor. God, she hoped they weren’t about to have a repeat of that particular adventure.

Two men and a woman came running towards them.

‘Oi, you two!’ shouted one of the men.  
   
‘Get out of there!’ shouted the woman.  

‘Seal that door, now!’  

The two men ran to the door and sealed it closed. The woman stopped in front of the Doctor, Rose, and Martha. ‘Who are you?’ she asked. ‘What are you doing on my ship?’

So it was a spaceship, then.

‘Are you police?’ asked one of the men.  

‘Why would we be police?’ asked the Doctor.  

‘We got your distress signal,’ said Martha. 

‘If this is a ship, why can't I hear any engines?’ asked the Doctor. Rose paused and listened intently. The Doctor was right, there was no sound of any engines.  
   
‘It went dead four minutes ago,’ said the Captain.  

‘So maybe we should stop chatting and get to Engineering,’ said the other man.  

An announcement came over the ship’s PA.

_Secure closure active._

‘What?’ asked the Captain. 

That wasn’t a good sign; a captain confused by their own ship. Then again, it worked for the Doctor.  
   
‘The ship's gone mad,’ said one of the men.

A young woman came running towards them, doors slamming shut behind her. ‘Who activated secure closure?’ she asked. ‘I nearly got locked in to area twenty seven.’ She paused when she noticed the three newcomers. ‘Who are you?’

Martha introduced them but Rose wasn’t listening. A small window had caught her eye. She moved towards it and gasped at what she saw.  
   
‘Guys...’ she said, trying to get the Doctor and Martha’s attention. She partly succeeded. Martha walked over to look out the porthole. Her expression soon matched Rose’s.

_Impact projection forty two minutes twenty seven seconds._

‘Doctor…’ said Martha but he wasn’t listening.

‘Forty two minutes until what?’ he asked the Captain.  

‘Doctor!’ shouted Rose. This time she got his attention and she moved over a little so he could see out of the window. 

‘Forty two minutes until we crash into the sun,’ said the Captain.  

The Doctor rushed towards the Captain, grabbing her by the arms urgently. ‘How many crew members on board?’

Rose continued to stare out the window. She couldn’t seem to tear her gaze away from it. The view of the dangerously close sun was both breathtaking and terrifying.

‘Seven, including us,’ answered the Captain.

‘We transport cargo across the galaxy,’ said one of the men. ‘Everything's automated. We just keep the ship space-worthy.’  

The Doctor ran to the door that led back to the TARDIS. ‘Call the others, I'll get you out.’

The ship’s crewmembers yelled at him to stop but he ignored them and opened the door. The force of the heat was enough to knock him backwards onto the ground. One of the crewmembers shut the door while Rose and Martha helped the Doctor up.

‘But my ship's in there!’ cried the Doctor.  

‘In the vent chamber?’  

The Doctor nodded. ‘It's our lifeboat.’

‘It's lava.’  

‘The temperature's going mad in there,’ said the young woman who had sealed the door. ‘Up three thousand degrees in ten seconds, and still rising.’

Bloody hell! Rose knew the TARDIS was practically indestructible… but three thousand degrees? That was literally scorching.  

‘Channeling the air. The closer we get to the sun, the hotter that room's going to get,’ explained one of the men. 

‘Sorry, what’s your name?’ asked Rose. 

‘Riley.’

‘So, Riley, are you telling us that we can’t get in there? At all?’

‘Not unless we fix the engines.’

‘Then what are we waiting for?’ said the Doctor. ‘We fix the engines, we steer the ship away from the sun. Simple. Engineering down here, is it?’ He pointed down the hallway.  

The Captain nodded, ‘Yes.’  

The Doctor led the way to Engineering at a sprint.

_Impact in forty twenty six._

\----

It turned out that he Doctor’s simple plan of fixing the engines wasn’t going to be so simple after all. Engineering was trashed. Rose swore under her breath.

‘Blimey, do you always leave things in such a mess?’ asked the Doctor.   

‘Oh my God,’ exclaimed the Captain. This must have been a fairly recent development in their problem.  
   
‘What the hell happened?’ asked the man who wasn’t Riley. Rose really needed to find out everybody’s names before they all plummeted into the sun.   

‘Oh, it's wrecked,’ said Riley.  

‘Pretty efficiently too,’ said the Doctor, examining the damage. ‘Someone knew what they were doing.’

‘What? You mean sabotage?’ asked Rose and the Doctor nodded.

‘Where's Korwin?’ asked the Captain to the room at large. ‘Has anyone heard from him or Ashton?’ The other crewmembers shook their heads and the Captain moved to the intercom, asking for the missing people. Rose decided that this was probably the best time to learn everybody’s names.

‘So, you know who we are,’ she said. ‘What about you lot?’

Riley pointed to the other man who was now climbing up a ladder. ‘That’s Scannell.’ He pointed to the young woman. ‘That’s Erina.’ He pointed to the Captain who was getting more distressed by the minute. ‘And that’s Kath McDonnell. Our Captain.’ 

‘Right, well, nice to meet you all,’ said Rose. ‘Lovely ship you got here but I don’t fancy staying.’ She turned to the Doctor. ‘What do we do? Can you fix this?’ She waved a hand around her, indicating the mass of wires and broken machinery.

The Doctor laughed, though it was evident that there was nothing here he found amusing. ‘I’m not a miracle worker.’ He moved over to a computer screen and put on his glasses. Rose knew he didn’t really need them but she had to admit, he did look sexy in them, even if she didn’t really like the blue suit. How was he still wearing a suit anyway? 

‘We’re in the Torajii system,’ said the Doctor. ‘You're a long way from home, Martha. Half a universe away.’  

‘Yeah. Feels it,’ said Martha.  

‘And you're still using energy scoops for fusion?’ he asked McDonnell. ‘Hasn't that been outlawed yet?’ 

‘We're due to upgrade next docking,’ said McDonnell. Rose didn’t miss the suspicious glance she threw at Scannell (who had just come back down the ladder) before answering. ‘Scannell, engine report.’  

Scannell made his way over to the computer screen and jabbed a few buttons. ‘No response.’

‘What?’  

Scannell rushed over to inspect the machinery and McDonnell tried the scanner again. No luck.

‘They're burnt out,’ said Scannell. ‘The controls are wrecked. I can't get them back online.’ 

‘Oh, come on. Auxiliary engines. Every craft's got auxiliaries,’ said the Doctor, pulling off his specs.  

‘We don't have access from here,’ said McDonnell. ‘The auxiliary controls are in the front of the ship.’  

‘Yeah, with twenty nine password sealed doors between us and them. You'll never get there in time,’ said Scannell.

‘Well, not with that attitude,’ muttered Rose.  

‘Can't you override the doors?’ asked Martha.  

‘No. Sealed closure means what it says. They're all dead-lock sealed.’ 

‘So a sonic screwdriver's no use,’ said the Doctor.  

‘Nothing's any use. We've got no engines, no time, and no chance.’ 

‘Oh, listen to you,’ said the Doctor. ‘Defeated before you've even started. Where's your Dunkirk spirit? Who's got the door passwords?’  
   
This time it was Riley who answered. ‘They're randomly generated,’ he said. ‘Reckon I know most of them.’ 

‘That’s more like it,’ said Rose, smiling at Riley.

‘Then what are you waiting for, Riley? Get on it,’ said the Doctor. 

‘Well, it's a two person job. One, a technish for the questions, and the other to carry this.’ He lifted up a bulky looking device with a keyboard. ‘The oldest and cheapest security system around, eh, Captain?’  

‘Reliable and simple, just like you, eh, Riley?’ said McDonnell.

Riley put the device on his back like a backpack. ‘Try and be helpful, get abuse. Nice.’ 

‘I'll help you,’ said Martha. ‘Make myself useful.’  

‘Me too,’ said Rose. ‘Three heads are better than two.’ 

The Doctor looked worried. ‘What?’ she asked him.

‘Just, be careful.’

‘You too,’ said Rose.

The three of them left the room just in time to hear Ashton answer McDonnell on the intercom.  It seemed she was needed in the med-centre.

_Impact in thirty four thirty one._

\----

‘Okay, first door,’ said Rose as they reached Area 29. Riley started typing on his portable security device.  

‘Hurry up, will you?’ said Martha after half a minute had ticked by. As the ship PA kept reminding them, time was of the essence.  

‘All right. Fix the clamp on,’ said Riley and Martha did as she was told.   

‘What are you typing?’ she asked.  

‘Each door's trip code is the answer to a random question set by the crew. Nine tours back, we got drunk, thought them up. Reckoning was, if we're hijacked, we're the only ones who know all the answers.’

‘Did you just say you thought them up when you were drunk?’ said Rose. Oh, this was going to be fun.

‘So you type in the right answer?’ asked Martha.  

Riley nodded and pointed to the security device. ‘This sends an unlock pulse to the clamp. But we only get one chance per door. Get it wrong, the whole system freezes.’ 

‘Better not get it wrong then.' 

‘Okay. Date of SS Pentallian's first flight. That's all right.’ He typed in the answer. ‘Go!’  The lights on the clamp turned green and the bulkhead door opened.

‘Yes!’ cried Martha in celebration.  

‘Twenty eight more to go!’

They ran to the next door as fast as they could with the added weight of the heavy backpack as well as the heat of the ever-nearing sun.

The coms crackled to life and the Doctor’s voice filled the room.

‘Rose? Martha? Riley? How're you doing?'

‘Just got through the first door,’ said Rose. 

‘At the door to twenty eight,’ added Martha 

‘Yeah, you've got to move faster,’ said the Doctor.  

‘We're doing our best,’ said Martha, defensively.  

Riley read the next question. ‘Find the next number in the sequence three one three, three three one, three six seven… What?’  

‘You said the crew knew all the answers,’ said Martha.

‘He also said they were drunk,’ reminded Rose.  

‘The crew's changed since we set the questions,' said Riley.  
   
‘You're joking.’

‘Three seven nine,’ said the Doctor over the coms.  

‘What?’ asked Martha.  

‘It's a sequence of happy primes. Three seven nine.’  
   
‘Happy what?’ asked Martha.

‘Just put it in,’ said Rose. ‘Trust me, he knows what he’s talking about even if no one else does.’

Riley started to protest. ‘We’re wasting time,’ said Rose and Riley nodded and entered in the answer.

The lights flashed green again and the door opened.

‘We're through!’ shouted Martha as they made their way to next door. 

Rose was once again reminded of Krop Tor. Crawling through the vents, waiting for Zach to open the hatchways one at a time. She pushed the memory away. 

‘Keep moving,’ said the Doctor. ‘Fast as you can. And be careful, there may be something else on board this ship.’  
   
‘Any time you want to unnerve me, feel free,’ said Martha.

‘What sort of something?’ asked Rose but the coms fell silent.

_Impact in thirty fifty._

‘I can't believe our lives depend on some stupid pub quiz,’ said Martha as they reached the next door. ‘Is that the next one?’  

‘Oh, this is a nightmare,’ said Riley looking at the screen. ‘Classical music. Who had the most pre-download number ones, Elvis Presley or The Be-atles? How are we supposed to know that?’

They all looked at each other, none of them knowing the answer.

‘Ask the Doctor,’ said Rose.

Riley pressed the button for the coms and Martha asked the Doctor the question.

‘Elvis,’ he answered before immediately changing it to The Beatles. ‘No! Wait! Um, um. Oh, what was that remix?’ Rose could practically see him pulling at his hair. ‘Um, I don't know. I am a bit busy.’

‘Fine. I'll ask someone else,’ said Martha and Riley switched off the coms.

‘Wish we could Google it,’ said Rose.

‘We can’t,’ said Martha but she smiled and held up her phone. ‘Would you like to phone a friend?’

Rose beamed at her. ‘Go on, then. Who are you gonna try?’

‘Mum. She’s most likely to be home and near a computer.’ She dialed the number and waited an agonisingly long 15 seconds for her mother to answer.

_Impact in twenty nine forty six._

‘Mum? It's me.’ There was pause as Francine said something but Martha rushed her along. ‘Actually, a bit busy. Need you to do something for me.’ There was another pause. Martha was starting to get agitated. ‘Mum, please, not now. I need you to look something up on the Internet.’ Another pause. ‘Oh, just do it, will you?’ Martha took a deep breath to calm herself. ‘Please.’ There was another pause before Martha asked her mother the question. 

Francine was speaking again and whatever it was mustn’t have been good because Martha covered the phone and let out a frustrated growl. 

‘Yeah, a pub quiz,’ she said after another pause. ‘Have you found it?’ 

_Impact in twenty eight fifty._

After what felt like an eternity, Francine found the answer. Elvis. Riley put it into the computer and the door opened. 

‘Mum, you're a star!’ said Martha as they walked through to the next one.

They stopped as a scream echoed over the intercom.

‘I've got to go,’ said Martha and she hung up the phone.

‘Doctor? Who was that?’ asked Rose over the coms. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Concentrate on those doors,’ said the Doctor. He sounded panicked. Something was very wrong. ‘You've got to keep moving forward.’

_Impact in twenty seven oh six._

The coms fell silent again.

‘Doctor?’ asked Rose but it was no use. She turned to the others. ‘Come on, we’d better do as he says. We’re wasting time.’

\----

_Impact in twenty four fifty one._

Rose, Riley and Martha had answered the past few questions relatively easily. ‘Doctor, we're through to area seventeen,’ said Martha into the coms as they reached the next door. 

‘Keep going. You've got to get to area one and reboot those engines.’

Riley jabbed the security device, muttering encouragements under his breath. He gave it a whack. ‘Everything on this ship is so cheap,’ he said in annoyance.

There was a clang from the door behind them.

‘Who's there?’ asked Riley.  

A man walked through the smoke. He was wearing a helmet with a visor, hiding his eyes from view.

‘Is that Korwin?’ asked Martha.  

‘No, wait a minute,’ said Riley as the man came more into view. ‘Oh, Ashton, what are you doing?’  

‘Burn with me,’ said Ashton.

That didn’t sound good.

‘Well, if you want to help,’ said Riley.  

‘Burn with me. Burn with me.’

‘Yeah, I don’t think he wants to help,’ said Rose as Ashton lifted his hand to his visor.  
   
‘Move!’ shouted Martha and she began to run.

They followed her into a small room and she shut the door behind them. Rose peered out of the small window and jumped as Ashton appeared on the other side. Riley opened a small hatch on the far side of the room and the three of them scrambled in. Riley closed the door. 

Another door slid closed over the hatch. 

‘What is happening on this ship?’ asked Riley to no one in particular. 

‘Never mind that, where are we?’ asked Martha.  

_Airlock sealed. Jettison escape pod._  
   
Definitely not good.

‘Is that us?’ asked Rose as Riley started frantically jabbing at a computer panel on the wall.

_Pod jettison initiated._

‘Doctor!’ shouted Martha into the coms. ‘We're stuck in an escape pod off the area seventeen airlock. One of the crew's trying to jettison us! You've got to help us!’ She looked at Riley. ‘Tell me you can stop it.’ Riley kept pressing buttons.

_Jettison held._  
   
They breathed a sigh of relief. 

_Jettison reactivated._  
   
Martha screamed in frustration. Rose put a hand on her shoulder. ‘We’ll get out,’ she said. Martha took a couple of deep breaths to calm down. She looked up and Rose could see the fear in her eyes. 

Riley was tapping the keyboard again. ‘Tsilpinski sequence. This'll get him.’ 

_Jettison held. Escape pod stabilised._

The two women smiled at Riley gratefully. Rose turned to Martha. ‘See?’

Martha nodded. ‘Yeah.’ She faced Riley. ‘You're pretty good.’

Martha had spoken too soon. Ashton began counteracting whatever trick Riley had pulled and the two men once again commenced battle.

_Jettison activated._  
   
A battle which Riley seemed to have lost. 

‘He's smashed the circuit,’ he said. ‘I can't stop it. I can't stop it!’

Now Rose was beginning to panic. She looked out of the small window. Where was the Doctor?

_Airlock sealed._  
   
Rose tried the door even though she knew it was pointless. ‘We’re locked in,’ she said, trying not to let her panic show. 

_Airlock decompression completed. Jettisoning pod._

The Doctor appeared at the airlock window. 

‘Doctor!’ shouted Rose even though she knew he couldn’t hear her. 

‘It's too late,’ said Riley but Rose wasn’t listening.  

‘Doctor!’ she shouted again as the escape pod started to float away from the ship.

The Doctor was shouting at her from the airlock. She couldn’t hear him but she could read lips well enough to know what he was saying. 

I’ll save you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter (and the next) was surprisingly easy to write. Once I got going, I just couldn't stop, hence the quick update. Unfortunately I don't expect it to happen too often though. It's just so hard to find the time.


	21. 42 Part Two

The Doctor hastily put on the spacesuit that Scannell had provided.

‘I can't let you do this,’ said Scannell. 

Ha! Like anyone could stop him. Rose and Martha were falling into a sun, he wasn’t just going to stand by and let that happen.  
   
‘You're wasting your breath, Scannell,’ he said. ‘You're not going to stop me.’  

‘You want to open an airlock in flight on a ship spinning into the sun. No one can survive that.’  

‘Oh, just you watch.’  

‘You open that airlock, it's suicide. This close to the sun, the shields will barely protect you.’  

The Doctor didn’t care. It was worth the risk. ‘If I can boost the magnetic lock on the ship's exterior, it should remagnetise the pod. Now, while I'm out there, you have got to get the rest of those doors open. We need those auxiliary engines.’  

Scannell wasn’t giving up that easily. ‘Doctor, will you listen! They're too far away. It's too late.’

But the Doctor was just as stubborn. It wasn’t too late, and even if it was, he still had to try. Panic started to bubble within him as he thought of what losing Rose would do to him. 

‘I'm not going to lose them,’ he told Scannell, a bit darkly. He put on his helmet and entered the airlock. 

_Decompression initiated. Impact in twelve fifty five._

There was an agonising long wait for the decompression to complete but, finally, the Doctor was able to open the outer door.

_Impact in eleven fifteen. Heat shield failing. At ten percent._

He gritted his teeth as he made his way out of the airlock. Even with his superior Time Lord Biology, the heat and the pressure were intense. He reached for the buttons on the ship’s hull, holding onto the edge of the airlock. ‘Come on!’ he shouted, willing his fingers to grow just that bit longer.

With a lot of effort, he managed to press the right buttons to unlock the box beside them. 

Scannell’s voice came over the coms. ‘Doctor, how are you doing?’   

‘I can't, I can't reach!’ said the Doctor through the pain of the heat and his stretching arm. ‘I don't know how much longer I can last.’  

The thought of not making it hit him hard. What if this was it? What if this was the day he lost Rose? And then there was Martha. The amazing young woman had so much more she could achieve. Now she would die here because of him.

‘Come on. Don't give up now.’

Scannell’s change of attitude reignited the Doctor’s determination. This man had practically been writing their eulogies for the last half hour, if he suddenly had hope, then how could the Doctor possibly give up?

With one last stretch, he ripped the cover off of the box, and pulled the lever down. The pain in his arm skyrocketed and he cried out but it was worth it. He had done it. The escape pod was being pulled back to the ship.

He clambered back into the airlock and turned to look out at the sun. He vaguely heard Scannell calling him back in but he was frozen in place. He knew what had happened to Korwin and Ashton. The same thing that would now happen to him. 

‘It’s alive,’ he said to himself. ‘It’s alive!’

He turned away as he felt something seep into his skin, into his mind. Something that wanted him to burn.

\----

‘He’ll get us out,’ said Rose for the third time in as many minutes. It had become her mantra and she wholeheartedly believed it. The Doctor would do everything he could to save them.

‘It's too late,’ said Riley. ‘Our heat shields will pack in any minute, and then we go into free fall. We'll fall into the sun way before he has a chance to do anything.’  

‘You don't know the Doctor,’ said Martha. ‘I believe in him.’ Rose nodded in agreement.  

‘Then you're lucky,’ said Riley. ‘I've never found anyone worth believing in.’  

‘No girlfriend?’ asked Martha. ‘Boyfriend?’  

‘The job doesn't lend itself to stable relationships.’

‘Family, then?’  

‘My dad's dead, and I haven't seen my mum in six years. She didn't want me to sign up for cargo tours. Things were said, and since then, all silent. She wanted to hold on to me, I know that. Oh, she's so stubborn.’

Rose could relate to that. Her mum had always been so adamant that Rose stay safe. But she had let her daughter go in the end. Rose missed her now more than ever.

‘Yeah, well, that's families,’ said Martha.  

‘What about you two?’ asked Riley.

‘The Doctor is my family now,’ said Rose. ‘There’s no one else left. Not anymore.’ 

‘I’m sorry,’ said Riley sincerely and Rose gave him a weak smile. ‘What about you, Martha?’

‘Full works. Mum, Dad, Dad's girlfriend, brother, sister. No silence there. So much noise.’ Martha’s face fell as the realisation hit her. ‘Oh, God! They'll never know! I'll just have disappeared, and they'll always be waiting.’

Riley handed her her phone. ‘Call them.’

Rose sat silently as she listened to Martha talk to her mum. She longed to be able to do the same, to call Jackie and talk to her about EastEnders, or the local gossip on the Estate, or Bev, or anything. Rose wiped back a tear. She hadn’t even realised she had begun to cry.

Thankfully, the other two hadn’t noticed. Martha had just hung up the phone to her mum and was now crying against Riley’s shoulder.

Suddenly the escape pod gave a big jolt.

‘We're being pulled back!’ said Riley in astonishment.  

‘I told you! It's the Doctor!’ shouted Martha, excitedly. 

Rose wiped a few more tears away as relief washed over her.

\--- -

_Airlock recompression completed._

Rose was the first to climb out of the escape pod. The Doctor was down on all fours on the floor of the corridor, his eyes clamped shut. Something was wrong. ‘Doctor!’ she shouted as she ran over to him and helped him sit up properly. ‘Doctor, are you all right?’  

The Doctor opened his eyes and a bright light shone from them. Rose jumped back.

‘Stay away from me!’ he growled and he shut his eyes again. Rose immediately moved back over to him and grabbed his arm.   

‘What's happened?’ asked McDonnell, reminding Rose that there were other people in the room.  

‘It's your fault, Captain McDonnell!’ cried the Doctor. Rose tried to shush him and calm him down but it was no use. He began to writhe in pain.   
   
On McDonnell’s orders, Riley ran off to finish opening the doors to the auxiliaries.

‘You mined that sun,’ continued the Doctor. ‘Stripped its surface for cheap fuel. You should have scanned for life!’

He twisted in pain again.

‘I’ve got you,’ said Rose, tightening her grip on his arm and reaching to wipe his forehead. He twisted away from her.  

‘I don't understand,’ said McDonnell.  

‘Doctor, what are you talking about?’ asked Martha.  

‘That sun is alive. A living organism. They scooped out its heart, used it for fuel, and now it's screaming!’  

‘What do you mean? How can a sun be alive? Why is he saying that?’

‘Because it's living in me.’  

McDonnell gasped. ‘Oh, my God.’

‘Doctor, what can we do?’ asked Rose but the Doctor didn’t answer.  

‘Humans!’ he growled instead. ‘You grab whatever's nearest and bleed it dry! You should have scanned!’  
   
‘It takes too long,’ confessed McDonnell. ‘We'd be caught. Fusion scoops are illegal.’  

The Doctor screamed in pain and frustration.

‘Doctor, what can we do?’ asked Rose again, almost shouting this time.

This time he answered her. ‘You've got to freeze me, quickly.’  

‘What?’ shouted Martha.  

‘Stasis chamber. You've got to take it below minus two hundred. Freeze it out of me! It'll use me to kill you if you don't.’ Martha moved to the Doctor’s other arm and her and Rose helped him up. ‘The closer we get to the sun, the stronger it gets! Med-centre, quickly! Quickly!’ 

_Impact in seven thirty._

\----

McDonnell showed them to the med-centre and they helped the Doctor into the stasis chamber.

‘Can you work this thing?’ Rose asked Martha.

Martha had already grabbed the instruction manual and was flipping through its pages. 

‘Rose, where are you?’ asked the Doctor, blindly reaching his hand in the air. Rose quickly grabbed it.

‘I’m rght here. I’m not going to leave you!’  

‘Minus two hundred, yeah?’ said Martha from the controls.  

‘No, you don't know how this equipment works. You'll kill him,’ shouted McDonnell. ‘Nobody can survive those temperatures.’  
   
‘The Doctor can,’ said Rose matter-of-factly. Her tone was steady but inside she was screaming. She couldn’t lose the Doctor. Not now. Not ever.

‘He's not human,’ explained Martha. ‘If he says he can survive, then he can.’

‘Let me help you, then,’ cried McDonnell.  

‘You've done enough damage,’ Martha bit back. 

‘Ten seconds,’ said the Doctor. ‘That's all I'll be able to take. No more.’ Each word seemed like an effort. ‘It's burning me up. I can't control it. If you don't get rid of it, I could kill you. I could kill you all. I'm scared! I'm so scared!’

‘Shhh, it will be all right,’ said Rose. 

‘Just stay calm,’ said Martha. ‘You saved us, now let us save you. Just believe in us.’

Rose felt the Doctor squeeze her hand. ‘I always believe in you,’ he said before another scream forced itself out of his mouth. ‘Martha, there’s this process, this thing that happens if I'm about to die.’

‘You are not going to die,’ said Rose. ‘You are not changing on me again so soon!’  

Martha looked confused but wisely left her questions for another time. ‘Are you ready?’ she asked the Doctor.  

‘No,’ said the Doctor but Martha used the controls to slide the Doctor fully into the stasis chamber anyway. Rose let out a sob as she was forced to let go of his hand. Martha entered the desired temperature into the machine and pressed a green button.

Rose turned away as the Doctor screamed, tears starting to fall in earnest now. 

_Heat shields failing. At five percent._

Rose looked at the screen just in time to see it switch itself off. It had only made it to minus seventy.

‘No!’ cried the Doctor. ‘Martha, you can't stop it. Not yet.’  

‘What happened?’ asked Rose, her own panic showing now. The Doctor was still screaming. 

‘Power's been cut in Engineering,’ said McDonnell.  

‘But who's down there?’ asked Martha.  

‘Leave it to me,’ said McDonnell and she left without another word. 

_Impact in four forty seven._

Martha tried pressing buttons on the stasis chamber, whispering words of encouragement, but had no luck. The Doctor was burning up again. 

‘Rose, Martha, listen!' he shouted from inside the chamber. 'I've only got a moment. You've got to go!’

‘No way,’ said Martha.

‘I told you, I’m not leaving,’ said Rose.  

‘Get to the front,’ said the Doctor. ‘Vent the engines. Sun particles in the fuel, get rid of them. Give back what they took.’  
   
Martha looked uncertainly at Rose and Rose nodded at her. ‘Go,’ she said. ‘Do as he says.’

Martha nodded and ran towards the front of the ship.  

‘You need to go too,’ said the Doctor. ‘Please go! I could kill you!’

‘You won’t,’ said Rose.  

_Impact in four oh eight._

‘Rose, why do you have to be so stubborn?’

‘Because I learnt from the best.’

‘It burns! Rose, it hurts so much!’

Rose reached into the chamber and grabbed the Doctor's hand again. ‘Just hold on for a little longer. Martha will get rid of the fuel, you just wait.’

_Impact in three forty three._

The Doctor began to climb out of the chamber. Rose tried to usher him back in but he pushed her away.

‘I can’t stay here,’ he said. ‘It’s too late! You have to get away.’ 

_Exterior airlock open._

Rose briefly wondered why an airlock had been opened but quickly returned her attention to the Doctor who was now crawling along the floor. ‘Doctor!’ she shouted as she rushed over to him, grabbing him by the shoulders. ‘Doctor, you’ve got to get back in the chamber.’  

_Impact in two seventeen. Primary engines critical._

Come on, Martha, thought Rose as she tried to haul the Doctor back towards the stasis chamber.

_Repeat. Primary engines critical. Survival estimate projection zero percent._

‘I can't fight it,’ said the Doctor as he wrenched himself away from Rose. He fell onto his hands and knees and Rose saw a bright light as he opened his eyes. ‘Burn with me.’

_Impact in one twenty one._

The Doctor screamed as his eyes burned. 

_Life support systems reaching critical. Repeat. Life support systems reaching critical._

The Doctor knelt up and started to turn towards Rose. She was backed up against the stasis chamber; there was nowhere to go.

_Impact in one oh six._

Rose closed her eyes as she waited for the sun to use the Doctor to kill her.

‘I forgive you,’ she said. If the Doctor survived this, he needed to know that she didn’t blame him. ‘I forgive you. I forgive you.’ 

_Collision alert. Collision alert._

‘It’s not your fault.’ 

_Collision alert. Fifty eight seconds to fatal impact._

‘Remember that. It’s not your fault. I…’ 

_Fuel dump in progress. Fuel dump in progress._

Rose slowly opened her eyes. The light n the Doctor’s eyes disappeared and he fell to the floor. The ship gave a big lurch and Rose felt the unmistakable feel of engines powering up. Martha had done it! 

_Impact averted. Impact averted. Impact averted._

Rose crawled over to the Doctor and held his face in his hands. He opened his red-shot but chocolate-brown eyes and smiled at her, relief evident on his face. Rose smiled back through the last of her tears and launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around him in a tight embrace. He returned the hug with just as much enthusiasm. It was their first hug since New York and Rose suddenly realised how much she had missed them. She squeezed him a little tighter.

Martha came running down the ship just as the Doctor and Rose had pulled away and picked themselves up off the floor. ‘Doctor!’ she shouted and she too embraced the Doctor.  

\----

‘This is never your ship,’ said Scannell to the Doctor. They were a safe distance away from the sun now and the TARDIS was accessible once more. Martha had never been so glad to see anything in all her life. 

‘Compact, eh?’ said the Doctor, seemingly back to his old self. ‘And another good word, robust. Barely a scorch mark on her.’  

‘We can't just leave you drifting with no fuel,’ said Martha to Riley and Scannell, the only two surviving members of the crew.  

‘We've sent out an official mayday,’ said Riley. ‘The authorities will pick us up soon enough.’  

‘Though how we explain what happened…’ added Scannell.  

‘Just tell them the truth,’ said the Doctor. ‘That sun needs care and protection just like any other living thing.’

He shook Scannell’s hand before walking into the TARDIS. Rose gave everyone a small smile and a wave before she followed. She had been strangely silent since they had gotten the engines running. It must have all hit her as soon as the immediate danger was over, assumed Martha. Like a delayed reaction to the events of the day. 

‘So, er, you're off then,’ said Riley. ‘No chance I'll see you again?’

Martha smiled sadly. She was really going to miss Riley. ‘Not really,’ she said. ‘It was nice, not dying with you. I reckon you'll find someone worth believing in.’  

‘I think I already did.’

She didn’t know what made her do it. Maybe it was just hearing those words spoken to her. The Doctor had said them, but Martha didn’t miss the way his body had inclined to Rose and he had held her hand a little tighter. The Doctor’s words were Rose’s but Riley’s words were hers. Martha leaned forward and kissed the brave man in front of her.

She pulled away quickly, not quite believing what she had just done. ‘Well done,’ she said. ‘Very hot.’ And she walked into the TARDIS before she said anything that would ruin the moment. Riley just stared at her, a small laugh escaping his lips. 

‘So, didn't really need you in the end, did we?’ she said to the Doctor as she walked up the ramp to where he was standing. He looked troubled. ‘Sorry. How are you doing?’ 

The Doctor’s expression changed in an instant. ‘Now, what do you say? Ice skating on the mineral lakes of Kur-ha. Fancy it?’  

Martha rolled her eyes. He was brushing it off, keeping it inside, just like he always did. ‘Whatever you like.’  

‘By the way,’ said the Doctor, reaching into his suit pocket, ‘you'll be needing this.’

Martha gasped as he pulled out a TARDIS key and held it out for her. She cupped her hands below it and the Doctor slowly lowered the key into them.

‘Thank you,’ he said.

‘Don’t mention it.’ Only then did she realise that Rose wasn’t in the room. ‘Where’s Rose?’

‘Went to bed,’ said the Doctor, that troubled look making another appearance. ‘Been a long day. Said she wanted to be alone.’

‘I think she misses her family,’ said Martha. 

A flicker of guilt passed over the Doctor’s face and Martha had a sudden feeling that she had struck a sensitive issue. She didn’t yet know what had happened to Rose’s family. She couldn’t imagine what it must have been like to be in that pod with nobody to-  

‘Oh, no! Mum!’

Martha quickly pulled out her phone and rang her mother. She had a lot of apologising and explaining to do.

Her mum was oddly forgiving and understanding on the phone. They made plans to have dinner that night (Election night) and Martha hung up the phone.

‘So, where to next?’ asked the Doctor but he lacked his usual enthusiasm. He was obviously worried about Rose as well as still being rattled by the traumas of the day. ‘Oh, I know! What do you say we try the moon landing again?’


	22. Moon Landing: Take Three

Rose lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. There was no use trying to sleep, she didn’t feel tired and whenever she closed her eyes she saw the Doctor’s face contorted in pain. 

The TARDIS made her usual groaning sound as she landed and Rose got up. She might as well see where the Doctor had taken them. She quickly got changed and made her way to the console room.

She was almost there when she met the Doctor who as going the other way. He stopped when he saw her. ‘Oh, I was going to come and get you,’ he said. ‘We’ve landed.’

‘I heard,’ said Rose, trying to smile cheerfully. The Doctor had his own demons to deal with at the moment; he didn’t need hers as well. ‘Where are we?’

‘You’ll see.’

He led her through the control room and they joined Martha at the doorway. The Doctor opened the door and gestured for Rose and Martha to go first.

Rose stepped outside and took in her surroundings. It was another NASA control room or something of the like.

‘The moon landing again? You really are tempting fate, you know?’

The Doctor rolled his eyes. ‘I told you, nothing interferes with the moon landing.’ Rose still wasn’t convinced.

The Doctor moved over to some controls, flashed the psychic paper to the operator and started examining the machinery with his usual enthusiasm. Rose was fairly sure she heard the words “brilliant” and “molto bene”. 

He was acting like his usual chipper self but Rose knew that it was a charade. He was still rattled from whatever had taken him over and now he was trying to hide it. To push it away like he always did. Rose knew she should try and coax it out of him, and she would, just not now. Right now, she wanted to be alone. Maybe she should have stayed in her room. 

She sat down on a plastic chair and stared into the distance, her mind elsewhere. A whole universe away. She wondered what her Mum was doing now. Was she happy? Rose hoped so. She had Pete and the new baby. She still had Mickey to remind her of her old life. She wouldn’t be lonely. Not like Rose.

Deep down, Rose knew she had the Doctor and Martha and the TARDIS and she wouldn’t trade in any of it, but, right now, she had never felt so alone. 

She looked at the phone in her hand. She hadn’t even realised she had taken it out of her pocket.

‘Thinking of calling someone?’ asked Martha, making Rose jump. ‘Sorry.’

Rose shook her head. ‘No, it’s all right. Just daydreaming, I guess.’

Martha looked pointedly at the phone. ‘So? Who were you going to call?’

‘No one,’ said Rose before sighing. ‘My Mum. I know I can’t reach her but I just…’ She trailed off and sat back in her chair, closing her eyes.

‘You said you didn’t have any family…’ said Martha cautiously, obviously not wanting to seem intrusive. ‘Do you want to talk about it?’

Rose was about to decline the offer but stopped herself. She actually really did want to talk about it.

‘They’re not dead,’ she told Martha. ‘But they are gone. There was this sort of hole in the wall between dimensions. And that’s not supposed to happen so we had to seal it.’ She didn’t want to mention the battle. She knew Martha had lost her cousin that day and she didn’t want to bring up any bad memories for her. Martha had been through enough today. ‘My Mum ended up on the other side. She’s fine. She’s with my Dad, well, a parallel version of him anyway, and they are having a baby. But I can’t ever see them again. The Doctor managed to find a way for me to say goodbye but I just wish I could talk to her again.’

Rose wiped a tear away. She felt better now that she had gotten that off her chest.

‘Maybe you will,’ said Martha.

Rose smiled sadly. ‘The Doctor said it was impossible.’

‘Yeah, but what does he know? Impossible things happen all the time. If you had told me two months ago that I would one day be travelling through space and time with an alien who could take me to see the moon landing three times, I would have said that was impossible.’

Rose chuckled. ‘I guess you’re right,’ she said, though she still didn’t believe that she would ever see her Mum again. ‘What about you? How are you feeling?’

‘A bit shaken still,’ admitted Martha. ‘But I’ll be fine. We got out just like we always do.’

‘Did you call your Mum back? She must be worried.’

Martha nodded. ‘Yeah. She was oddly calm about it. We made plans for dinner so I guess I had better hope the Doctor can get me there.’

Rose laughed. ‘He will. He knows that if he doesn’t, your Mum will slap him again.’

Martha chuckled. ‘I can’t believe she did that.’

‘My Mum did the same. They just worry about us.’

‘I suppose so. I’m not used to it. Usually I’m the one worrying about everyone.’

‘What are they like? Your family?’

Rose listened with a smile as Martha described her family. She could tell that she really cared about them, even her Dad’s stupid girlfriend. Rose made a mental note to make sure that Martha got to visit them regularly.

Martha was midway telling the story about her brother’s twenty-first birthday party when the room erupted into applause.

They must have missed it… again. Rose looked guiltily at Martha. ‘Sorry.’

Martha laughed. ‘Don’t be.’

‘Did you see that?’ asked the Doctor, bounding over to them. ‘Human engineering. Amazing!’

‘Missed it, sorry,’ said Rose and the Doctor’s face fell.

‘What? Again?’

‘Afraid so.’

‘Oh well, never mind. We can try again another time. Come on, onwards and upwards.’

Rose and Martha followed him into the TARDIS. ‘Martha has dinner plans,’ said Rose.

The Doctor turned to face her. ‘Yeah, I know,’ he said as if he meant to add "what’s your point?" after it.

‘So, don’t you think she should keep those plans?’

‘We’re in a time machine. We can travel from one end of the galaxy to the next and she could still meet her Mum for dinner the night after we left.’

‘Actually,’ said Martha. ‘I really would like to go see Mum. Just for dinner.’

The Doctor paused for a moment before he finally nodded. ‘Right. Yes, of course. Sorry.’ He turned back to the console and started flicking switches. ‘Election day, you said?’

Martha nodded. ‘Yeah, but can we wait until tomorrow?’ The Doctor opened his mouth but Martha cut him off. ‘I know, it’s a time machine and tomorrow doesn’t exist and whatever, but I could really do with a good sleep.'

The Doctor moved around the console and flicked another switch. ‘I’ll just let us drift in the vortex for a while then.’

Martha smiled. ‘Thanks. Goodnight.’

The Doctor and Rose wished her goodnight and she left the console room. The Doctor started fiddling with the TARDIS controls again but Rose knew he was just keeping his hands busy.

‘You all right?’ she asked.

‘I’m always all right,’ he said, smiling at her. The smile didn’t reach his eyes.

‘Liar.’ 

His smile slowly disappeared. ‘I’ll be fine,’ he said earnestly. ‘Just got a bit spooked that’s all. I’m sorry.’

Rose moved around the console and wrapped her arms around him. ‘You have nothing to be sorry for. You were scared. We all were.’

The Doctor returned her embrace and they swayed a little. ‘You should have left me,' he said.

‘Never.’

‘I almost killed you.’

‘It wasn’t you.’

There was a pause before the Doctor whispered, ‘Thank you.’

Rose pulled away and was relieved to see that the troubled look in his eyes had faded a little.

‘Better with two, remember?’

The Doctor smiled. ‘Better with two.’


	23. Four Things and a Lizard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to warn you, I was sick when writing and editing this chapter so hopefully it makes sense. If not, I will revise it when I'm feeling better.

The Doctor got out of the London cab, a massive bow slung over his shoulders. Martha was carrying a quiver full of poisoned arrows. 

He had meant to take Martha back to meet her Mum for dinner, he really had, but as soon as he had set the course that morning (well, “morning” was a relative term in a time machine, but the Doctor wasn’t in the mood for semantics), an alarm had sounded within the console room. The TARDIS had detected another time-ship in the vortex, but this one was very erratic in its flight patterns. It was sending off all sorts of signals. The Doctor had come to the conclusion that its driver was no longer in control.

It had crash-landed on Earth (naturally), somewhere in London (of course), at the start of the 21st century (bloody typical!). The Doctor had managed to trace the energy signature of the vessel to late 2008 (so only a few months late for Martha’s dinner), but had not been able to get a proper lock on it. Still, he made an educated guess.

It turned out that he had been a bit wrong with his educated guess and they had arrived in London a week after the other ship had. It also turned out that the occupants of the crashed ship were not exactly the nicest aliens in the galaxy. In fact, the Doctor would go as far to say that they were right bastards. They were part of a criminal gang that had made its mark throughout several centuries by stealing, smuggling, and murdering their way through the universe. The two that had crashed their stolen time-ship on Earth had been smuggling Axrian eggs. Which was bad. Seriously bad. _Unbelievably_ bad.

Axrians were a very fast spreading and very deadly parasite. They borrowed themselves under their victims skin in a manner of seconds and within a minute; they could latch themselves onto the brain of the host. They then used that host to attract other people to their lair, and those people would either become hosts themselves, or become food. Eventually, the parasites would come to the end of their lifecycle and lay their eggs (you could always tell an Axrian egg by its very distinctive blood-red colour), and then the whole process would start all over again. 

And there were currently at least three-dozen of them sitting in a small park across London, almost ready to hatch.

And that was just problem number one.

Problem number two was that the smugglers had scarpered. They may not have their ship anymore, or their cargo, but they were still dangerous. They still had 51st century weapons and no morals and could easily rack up a sizable death count in trying to get off this planet.

Another problem was that, being part of a notorious crime gang and all, their crash-landing had been noticed by people other than the Doctor. The Judoon had also picked up on the stolen time-ship’s signals, and, unless the criminals were handed to them within twelve hours, would accuse the planet of harbouring fugitives and would take the appropriate action.

And the Judoon weren’t the only other ones who had tracked the smugglers. Another stolen time-ship had followed them to Earth, this one containing a rogue Foamsi (a reptilian alien) who had struck a deal with the criminals, only to get conned out of two million credits. Needless to say, he was less than pleased. He was out for blood and if he got to the criminals first, the Doctor would have no bodies to give to the Judoon.

And the Doctor’s final problem was U.N.I.T. They had tried to dispose of the Axrian eggs but the eggs had proven to be quite insusceptible to bullets, knives, and fire. So U.N.I.T had gone to their usual method of defence, blowing it up. The issue with this was that the amount of explosives needed would also blow up the surrounding neighbourhood. 

That was a lot of things to worry about. 

The Doctor had at least managed to deal with U.N.I.T somewhat. He had managed to convince them (with a little help from a phone call by one Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart) to hold off on detonating their explosives until the Doctor and Martha had had a go of stopping the parasites. Seeing as the attacks against the eggs had proved unsuccessful, the Doctor had decided that their best chance to stop the parasites would be to get them when they were hatching. Hence the poison-tipped arrows. Once the hatching had started, the Doctor and Martha, along with a few U.N.I.T troops, had precisely two minutes to take out all three-dozen parasites before U.N.I.T activated their explosives. 

They had decided that the best thing to do would be to move the eggs to an empty warehouse (Operation Migration, as U.N.I.T called it), as far away from heavily populated areas as possible, which turned out to be not very far at all.

Hopefully Rose was having more luck with her task.

Rose had gone to track down the smugglers and get close enough to plant matter-transporting discs on them, which, when activated, would transmat the criminals onto the Judoon ship. She just had to do it before the Foamasi caught up with them. 

The Doctor would be lying if he has said he wasn’t worried about her going off on her own, but he knew she could take care of herself. Still... she was outnumbered.

He looked around the street, trying to get his bearings. 

‘I wonder who won the election,’ said Martha, offhandedly.

‘We don’t have time,’ said the Doctor. He couldn’t let himself get distracted. He couldn’t help Rose if he missed the hatching and got himself blown up by U.N.I.T.

Martha nodded and pointed down the street. ‘That way,’ she said and they both made their way across the road.

‘Doctor! Doctor! Doctor!’ 

The Doctor turned at the persistent shouting of his name. A young blonde woman whom he did not recognise was running towards him. ‘Hello,’ he said, trying to be polite. ‘Sorry, bit of a rush. There's a sort of thing happening. Fairly important we stop it.’

‘My God, it's you. It's really is you,’ said the woman, ignoring the sense of urgency. ‘Oh, you don't remember me, do you?’ 

Either the Doctor's memory was becoming foggy due to the direness of the situation, or this woman was from his future.

Martha stopped when she had realised that the Doctor wasn’t following. She ran back to meet him. ‘Doctor, we haven't got time for this. Migration's started.’ She started down the street again.

The Doctor turned back towards the blonde woman. ‘Look, sorry, I've got a bit of a complex life. Things don't always happen to me in quite the right order. Gets a bit confusing at times, especially at weddings. I'm rubbish at weddings, especially my own.’ 

The woman seemed to understand. ‘Oh, my God, of course. You're a time traveller. It hasn't happened to you yet. None of it. It's still in your future.’ 

‘What hasn't happened?’ 

‘Doctor, please,’ yelled Martha. ‘Twenty minutes to red hatching.’ 

The young blonde woman still seemed to be in the midst of an epiphany. ‘It was me. Oh, for God's sake, it was me all along. You got it all from me.’ 

‘Got what?’ asked the Doctor. Now he was curious. 

The blonde shook her head to clear it and adopted a serious tone. ‘Okay, listen. One day you're going to get stuck in 1969. Make sure you've got this with you.’ She handed him a folder. ‘You're going to need it.’

‘Doctor!’ yelled Martha again, bringing him back to the current situation. He could worry about what was in the folder later. 

He looked back up at the blonde. ‘Yeah, listen, listen, got to dash. Things happening. Well, four things. Well, four things and a lizard.’  
  
‘Okay. No worries,’ said the blonde with a smile. ‘On you go. See you around some day.’ 

The Doctor made to leave but stopped and turned back to face her. ‘What was your name?’ he asked. 

‘Sally Sparrow.’ 

‘Good to meet you, Sally Sparrow.’

A tall man with light brown hair and the beginnings of a beard walked up to them and stopped beside Sally, a bewildered expression on his face. The Doctor watched as Sally clasped the man’s hand in hers. The man looked down at their intertwined hands, now even more bewildered than before. 

‘Goodbye, Doctor,’ said Sally before leading the man to the shop behind them.

The Doctor smiled at the retreating couple. He wondered if that’s what he and Rose looked like, walking hand in hand. A couple.

Thinking of Rose brought his thoughts back to his current dilemma and he quickly turned around and followed Martha down the street. He didn’t get to see the man put his arm over Sally’s shoulder as she wrapped hers around his waist.

\----

The Doctor and Martha had managed to subdue all the Araxians in record time. One minute and four seconds was all it took to take out 36 parasites. The Doctor was a little bit scared of how accurately Martha could shoot an arrow.

So that was that problem sorted, then. Now he could go help Rose.

He was just about to say as much when Martha’s phone rang. ‘It’s Rose,’ she said before answering it. ‘Rose, are you okay?’

The Doctor waited impatiently for Martha to confirm that Rose was indeed okay. After a few seconds, Martha nodded and the Doctor breathed a sigh of relief. 

Martha’s face suddenly broke into a grin. ‘That’s brilliant!’ she said. ‘How did you manage that?’

‘Manage what?’ asked the Doctor but Martha waved him off.

‘Awesome, well, we’ll meet you back at the TARDIS, yeah? See you soon.’

Martha hung up the phone and turned to the Doctor, who was tapping his foot impatiently.

‘How did she manage what?’ he asked again.

'She got the discs on the smugglers easy enough, it seems they have a thing for blondes…’ The Doctor bristled. Trust Rose to use _that_ form of persuasion to get close to the trigger-happy criminals. ‘But the Foamasi showed up before she could activate them.’

‘What did she do?’ asked the Doctor, more worried now. Surely she couldn’t be too hurt, he reasoned. She had told Martha she would meet them back at the TARDIS, after all.

‘Something clever,’ answered Martha with a smile. ‘She let them have at it. Then, just as the Foamasi had a firm grip on one of the smugglers, she activated the discs, sending all three of them to the Judoon.’

The Doctor smiled, that was his Rose. No, not his, he reminded himself. She could never be his. But she would always be clever, and as soon as they made it back to the TARDIS, he was going to make sure she knew it. He may even make her and Martha the breakfast that they had missed out on in all the chaos of the day. Banana pancakes, his specialty. After all, they deserved it.


	24. Human Nature Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait but this is quite a big one. There have been entire fics dedicated to Human Nature/The Family of Blood but I don't think I did them justice. Anyway, the good news is that I have four chapters ready for you and I will try and post them over the next few days.

Rose reached up to dust the top shelf of the bookcase. She coughed as a cloud of dust swirled in the air around her. Dusting the top shelf had been a task that she had been putting off since she became the librarian at Farringham School for Boys. The previous librarian was obviously more apt at ignoring things than she. Rose doubted that these shelves had been dusted all year.

Still coughing, she climbed down the small ladder and walked over to her desk where a nice hot cup of tea was waiting for her. The feel of the hot liquid going down her throat eased the discomfort the dust had caused and Rose sighed in relief.

As she sipped her tea, Rose reflected on the events that had led to her being a librarian at an English military school in nineteen-thirteen. 

The Doctor had managed to sweet-talk Martha into one more trip before her dinner with her mother. To be honest, it didn’t take much persuading. The promise of beautiful forests and warm relaxing hot springs were quite a good selling point and Martha had eagerly agreed.

They had only been on the planet for half an hour before they were being shot at and running back to the TARDIS. 

_‘Get down!’ shouted the Doctor as they all fell through the TARDIS doors and into the console room. A bolt of energy shot over their shoulders and hit the central column, sending sparks flying._

_The Doctor pulled the doors closed behind them and ran towards the console. ‘Did they see you?’ he asked, urgency in his voice._

_‘I don't know,’ said Martha._

_‘But did they see you?’_

_‘We were too busy running,’ said Rose._

_‘It’s important. Did they see your faces?’_

_‘No, they couldn't have,’ said Martha after thinking for a bit._

_This seemed to satisfy the Doctor and he pulled a lever and sent them into the time vortex. The console started beeping and he swung the scanner in front of him. He let out a huff of frustration. ‘They're following us.’_

_‘How?’ asked Martha._

_‘Do they have a time machine too?’ asked Rose._

_‘Stolen technology,’ said the Doctor as he began pressing buttons. ‘They've got a Time Agent's vortex manipulator. They can follow us wherever we go, right across the universe. They're never going to stop, unless…’ He trailed off, his hands moving to nervously pull at his hair. ‘I'll have to do it.’ He turned to Rose and Martha. ‘You two trust me, don't you?’_

_‘Of course,’ replied Martha and Rose simultaneously._

_‘Good because it all depends on you two.’_

_‘What does?’ asked Martha as the Doctor reached under the console. ‘What are we supposed to do?’_

_The Doctor straightened up and held out a silver fob watch with circular patterns etched into the metal. ‘Take this watch, because my life depends on it. This watch is me!’_

_‘What do mean, the watch is you?’ asked Rose but the Doctor was busy playing with the TARDIS controls again._

_‘Those creatures are hunters,’ he explained. ‘They can sniff out anyone, and me being a Time Lord, well, I'm unique. They can track me down across the whole of time and space.’_

_‘And the good news is?’ asked Martha._

_‘They can smell me, they haven't seen me. And their life span will be running out, so we hide. Wait for them to die.’_

_‘But they can track us down.’_

_‘That's why I've got to do it. I have to stop being a Time Lord. I'm going to become human.’_

_A sort of headset descended from the ceiling and the Doctor placed the watch in the slot provided. ‘Never thought I'd use this. All the times I've wondered.’_  
  
_‘What does it do?’ asked Martha._

_‘Chameleon Arch. Rewrites my biology. Literally changes every single cell in my body. I've set it to human.’_

_‘What about me?’ asked Rose. ‘You said my DNA was closer to a Time Lord’s now. Will those things be able to smell me too?’_

_The Doctor shook his head. ‘No. You’re still too human for them to smell the Time Vortex on you. Not unless they get really close. Now, the TARDIS will take care of everything. Invent a life story for me, find me a setting and integrate me. Can't do the same for you two. You'll just have to improvise. I should have just enough residual awareness to let you in.’_

_‘But, hold on. If you're going to rewrite every single cell, isn't it going to hurt?’ asked Martha._

_‘Oh, yeah. It hurts.’_

Rose winced at the memory of the Doctor screaming as the Chameleon Arch did it’s work. She still woke up in the middle of the night, hearing those screams in her head.

Once the TARDIS had landed, Rose had read the scanner and found out that they were in nineteen-thirteen. Her and Martha had packed some bags with some period appropriate clothes and then had carried the Doctor to a field nearby. He had left instructions for them and one of those instructions was that under no circumstances should they let him know who he really was unless the Family found them. And that meant keeping the TARDIS hidden from him.

The only problem was that Rose and Martha had had no idea who the human Doctor would be. They had known that he would know they were part of his life, they just hadn’t know what roles they would have to play. Or where they were going to live. Or how they were going to get there. Or how they were going to make money. Did the human Doctor have a job? Did any of them? The Doctor knew but, in his eye, Rose and Martha would know too, when, in reality, they didn’t even know the human Doctor’s name.

Martha had come up with the idea of getting answers from him by pretending to test for a concussion when he woke. A brilliant idea that worked like a charm.

_The Doctor groaned as he woke and started to get up._

_‘Easy there,’ said Martha, lowering him back down._

_‘What happened?’ he asked._

_‘You don’t remember?’_

_The Doctor shook his head and let out a moan of pain._

_‘I’m going to ask you a few questions,' said Martha. 'Just to make sure you don’t have a concussion.’_

_The Doctor smiled. ‘Look at you, Martha. Broadening out into doctoring, are you?’_

_Martha smiled politely. ‘Yeah, something like that. Do you remember your name?’_

_‘Of course, I do. John Smith.’_

_Rose mentally smacked herself; she really should have guessed that that would be his name._

_‘And where do you live?’_

_‘Farringham School for Boys. Or, I will as soon as we get there.’ He sat up and took in his surroundings. ‘Why are we in a field?’_

_‘We brought you here after you fell,’ said Rose. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a lie._

_John Smith turned to Rose and she almost gasped at the look in his eyes. It was a look that she thought she might have seen glimpses of before but never had allowed herself to believe what they meant._

_‘Tell us about Farringham,’ said Martha and John turned back to her._

 _‘It’s an all boy’s boarding school. They had a teaching position vacant so I took the job. I really think I’m fine. There’s no need for anymore questions.’_

_He went to get up properly but Martha stopped him. ‘Just one more. Promise.' She took a deep breath. 'Who are we?’ She gestured to herself and Rose._

_‘Oh, really Martha Jones! I’ve known you for so long, not even a concussion could make me forget you.’ Martha smiled at that. ‘You’re my maid.’ Martha’s smile disappeared in an instant. ‘Been with my family for years, which is why I insisted you come with me and work at the school. I only take the best.’ Martha’s smile made a brief return at the sentiment but she was obviously still troubled about her current position._

_‘And what about me?’ asked Rose, nervously. She was probably going to end up being a bloody dinner lady again._

_John Smith smiled at her; he had that look in his eyes again. ‘You’re Rose Tyler, the one person I couldn’t forget if I tried. My fiancée.’_

Rose took another sip of tea. She still wasn’t quite over the shock of finding out that the Doctor’s idea of having enough residual energy left to let her in meant that she had to pretend to be John Smith’s fiancée. Even if she had been playing that role for two months now. The Doctor had said that these creatures, the Family, only lived for a few months. One more month and Rose could open the watch that was currently sitting on John Smith’s mantlepiece. One more month and the Doctor would be back.

Rose looked around the library. Could be worse, she thought. Better than a dinner lady. 

She felt a stab of pity for Martha. She had taken the harsh adjustment in her stride and was keeping up a positive attitude towards things, but still… nineteen-thirteen was not the best time to be a black Londoner… or a woman.

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts. 

‘Come in,’ she said in her posh accent. She didn’t fully know why she had decided to adopt the accent, it just seemed appropriate. She did tend to slip every now and then though, mainly when she was talking with Martha.

One of the students walked in, a young boy with short auburn hair. Timothy Latimer. Rose smiled, he was one of the few boys in the school that she could actually stand. Most of them were spoilt brats.

‘What can I do for you, Timothy?’

‘Good morning, Miss Tyler. I was after a book. Mr. Smith wanted me to read it.’

‘Oh, yes, of course,’ said Rose, remembering John mentioning it earlier. ‘He has it in his room, I believe. You can get it from him later.’

Timothy nodded. ‘Thank you, Miss Tyler.’ Oh she hated being called that.

‘Well, off you trot, then,’ she said with a smile. ‘Don’t want to be late for class.’

Timothy nodded and left the library.

\----

Rose managed to get the top shelves dusted and a few more shelves rearranged before there was another knock on the door. This time it was the headmaster.

‘Good afternoon, Headmaster,’ she said politely as she stepped off the ladder. ‘Are you looking for a book?’

‘No. I just came to inform you that Mister Smith has taken a small tumble down the stairs.’

Rose’s smile vanished, along with her accent. ‘What? Is he all right?’

‘He’s fine,’ assured the headmaster. ‘Just a bruised head that’s all. Nurse Redfern is tending to him in his room. He-’

Rose didn’t let him finish, she ran past him as fast as her uncomfortable outfit would allow.

\----

Rose ran into John Smith’s room to see the nurse dabbing his head with a cloth. Martha was flittering around the room, tidying things. Rose knew that nothing actually needed tidying; Martha just wanted to keep an eye on John.

‘Is he okay?’ Rose asked the nurse.

Joan Redfern smiled up at her. ‘He’ll be fine. No sign of concussion, as Miss Jones has already been made aware of.’

Rose liked Nurse Redfern, she was nice, but her demeaning attitude towards Martha was not something that Rose was prepared to let slip.

‘Well, she does know a little on the subject, our Martha,’ said Rose giving Martha a smile. ‘She was the one who helped John when he fell on our way to the school that day.’

John nodded. ‘She was very professional,’ he agreed.

‘I’m sure she was,’ said Joan, politely, though Rose could still hear a twinge of bitterness in her voice.

‘I was just telling Nurse Redfern about my dreams,’ John told Rose. ‘You know the ones.’

Rose nodded. John had been having frequent dreams of the Doctor’s life in the TARDIS. Thankfully, he believed them to be just that, dreams. 

‘They are quite remarkable tales,’ he said to Joan. ‘I keep imagining that I'm someone else, and that I'm hiding.’ 

‘Hiding?’ asked Joan. ‘In what way?’ 

‘They're almost every night. This is going to sound silly.’ 

‘Tell me,’ insisted the nurse, now intrigued. 

John let out a nervous laugh before continuing. ‘I dream, quite often, that I have two hearts.’  
  
‘Well, then. I can be the judge of that. Let's find out.’ Joan got out her stethoscope from her bag and held it up to the John’s heart. ‘I can confirm the diagnosis. Just one heart, singular.’ 

‘I have written down some of these dreams in the form of fiction,’ said John. ‘Not that it would be of any interest.’ 

‘I'd be very interested,’ said Joan.

‘Well, I've never actually shown it to anyone other than Rose.’

John got up and picked up a book from his table. He handed it to the nurse.

‘A Journal of Impossible Things,’ read Joan. She opened the book and started to flick through the pages. Martha was sneaking glances at it over her shoulder. ‘Just look at these creatures. Such imagination.’ 

‘It's become quite a hobby, hasn’t it, Rose?’ said John.

Rose nodded. ‘Always has his head in that book, he does. I never knew he could draw like that. Such wonderful pictures.’ 

John beamed at the compliment and Rose couldn’t help but smile back.

‘It's wonderful,’ said Joan as she turned another page. ‘Oh and I see Miss Tyler must feature prominently in those dreams.’ She held up the book for Rose to see. It was a hand drawn picture of her face. John’s scrawled writing surrounded the picture.

Rose blushed. ‘He has drawn me far too pretty.’ 

John walked over to her and intertwined his fingers with hers. Rose still wasn’t used to the warmer temperature of his skin, she was just so used to holding the Doctor’s hand. And this man wasn’t the Doctor, not really. She just had to keep reminding herself of that fact whenever he looked at her the way he was looking at her now. With love in his eyes.

‘But that is the way I see you,’ he said and she blushed even more.

‘And what’s this?’ asked Joan, reading the journal again. She held up the page to show a picture of the TARDIS.

John turned from Rose to look at the book but didn’t let go of her hand. ‘Ah, that's the box,’ he said. ‘The blue box. It's always there. Like a magic carpet. This funny little box that transports me to far away places.’ 

‘Like a doorway?’ 

John made an affirmative noise. ‘I sometimes think how magical life would be if stories like this were true.’ 

‘If only,’ said Joan. 

‘It's just a dream,’ insisted John and Rose looked to the floor to hide the sadness that was no doubt showing in her eyes. She missed that life.

‘Do you mind if I borrow this?’ asked Joan. ‘It seems like such an interesting read.’

‘Be my guest,’ said John.

Joan smiled her thanks and left the room. Martha and Rose shared a worried glance before Martha ran out the room after her.

John turned back to Rose and frowned when he saw her concerned look. ‘I really am all right,’ he said, misreading the cause of her worry.

Rose smiled up at him and ran her fingers along his bruise. ‘Looks a bit painful,’ she said.

‘Maybe you should kiss it better,’ he said with a sly grin.

Before Rose could reply, he had lowered his mouth to hers in a soft kiss (and that was something else Rose still wasn’t used to).

‘Better?’ she asked after he had pulled away.

John grinned and Rose had to once again remind herself that he was not the Doctor. ‘Much,’ he said.

‘I had better get back to the library,’ said Rose, gesturing towards the door.

John’s smile faded a little but he nodded. ‘Yes, and I had better get back to class.’

That reminded Rose. ‘Oh, Timothy Latimer was after that book you recommended for him. I said he could get it from you later.’

‘Good, good,’ said John and Rose left to return to her dusting. She could let the maids do it, but she already felt bad enough for Martha. She didn’t want to add to what was already being a trying time. 

\----

After almost a full day's worth of cleaning, Rose was eager for a rest. John had suggested meeting at the pub after school and Rose had decided that a quick drink wasn't such a bad idea. She walked up to the pub just in time to hear Martha complaining to another maid about having to sit outside. And rightfully so. They shouldn’t have to sit out here in the freezing cold.

Rose knew that John was waiting for her inside but Rose decided to spend a few minutes with her friend.

‘Things must be different in your country,’ said the other maid. Rose was fairly sure her name was Jenny.

‘That they are,’ said Rose as she sat down at the table.

‘Miss Rose,’ said Jenny, startled. ‘You should be inside. I expect Mister Smith will be waiting for you.’

‘He can wait a bit longer. How are you two going?’

Martha shrugged. ‘The usual. Scrubbed some floors, did some dishes. How about you?’ 

‘Dusted the library.’ She turned to Jenny. ‘Did the previous librarian not breathe? The dust was phenomenal!’

‘Sorry, Ma’am,’ said Jenny. ‘Mrs. Lewis never let any of the staff in there apart from the teachers.’

‘No need to apologise,’ said Rose. ‘Not your fault.’

Jenny smiled gratefully.

Rose turned back to Martha. ‘Any of the students give you a hard time today?’

‘Just that Baines brat,’ said Martha, brushing it off, but Rose could tell that deep down it was starting to get to her.

‘Just one more month,’ she said. ‘Then we’re out of here.’ 

‘Martha keeps saying that,’ said Jenny. 

‘I wish you could come with us, Jenny,’ said Martha. ‘You'd love it.’ 

‘Where are you going to go?’ 

‘Anywhere.’ Martha nodded to the sky. ‘Just look up there. Imagine you could go all the way out to the stars.’

Jenny laughed. ‘You don't half say mad things.’ 

‘That's where we’re going. Into the sky, all the way out.’

Rose looked to the sky. God, she missed travelling among those stars. She missed the TARDIS. She missed her clothes. And most of all, she missed the Doctor. She had John Smith, who was more than pleasant company, but he lacked that spark that made the Doctor so special.

A small light shot across the sky. 

‘Did you see that?’ asked Martha.

‘See what?’ asked Jenny. 

‘A shooting star, maybe?’ said Rose.

The sound of running footsteps caused them to turn their attention away from the sky. Nurse Redfern was running towards them.

‘Matron, are you all right?’ asked Martha. 

‘Did you see that?’ she asked pointing behind her. ‘There was something in the woods. This light.’

John walked out of the pub. ‘There you are, Rose. I was getting worried. Anything wrong, ladies? Far too cold to be standing around in the dark, don't you-’ 

‘There, there,’ said Joan, cutting him off and pointing to the sky. ‘Look in the sky.’

Another light shot past. 

‘Oh, that's beautiful,’ said Jenny. 

‘All gone,’ said John. ‘Commonly known as a meteorite. It's just rocks falling to the ground, that's all.’ 

‘It came down in the woods,’ said Joan.

‘No, no, no. No, they always look close, when actually they're miles off. Nothing left but a cinder. Now, I should escort you back to the school.’

Joan shook her head. ‘I might have a drink, actually.’ She made her goodbyes and walked into the pub. 

Rose sent Martha a look that she hoped she would recognise as her I’ll-distract-John-while-you-check-out-the-weird-light look. Martha seemed to have understood. She nodded and Rose took John’s arm in hers. ‘It’s getting late, dear,’ she said. ‘Maybe we should head back to the school.’

John nodded. ‘Yes, of course.’ He turned to Martha and Jenny. ‘Ladies?’ 

‘No, we're fine, thanks,’ said Martha. 

‘Then I shall bid you goodnight.’

John led Rose back towards the school. She cast a quick glance over her shoulder and saw Martha running towards the woods, Jenny close behind her.

\----

‘Well here we are,’ said John as they reached Rose’s room. ‘Back home, safe and sound.’

‘Thank you, kind sir,’ said Rose, slightly teasing. 

‘My pleasure,’ said John. ‘But there was actually something I wanted to give you.’ 

He rummaged through his coat pocket and pulled out a small box and handed it to Rose. She opened it and gasped at what she saw. A silver engagement ring with a dark blue stone. 

‘Sorry it took so long,’ said John. ‘I know we’ve been engaged for months now but it wasn’t until this teaching job came along that I could afford a ring worthy enough.’

‘It’s beautiful,’ said Rose, tears starting to form. She wasn’t sure if they were from happiness or sadness. 

She went to put the ring on her finger. ‘Hey, now, that’s my job,’ said John and he quickly took the ring from her. He tentatively took Rose’s hand and slipped the ring onto her finger. ‘There we are, now it’s beautiful.’ 

Rose smiled up at him and he took her face in his hands, wiping her tears away with his thumb. ‘Rose Tyler, I lo-’

Rose leant up and kissed him before he could finish his sentence. She didn’t think she could bear hearing those words said by the Doctor’s voice, knowing it wasn’t really the Doctor speaking. Right now, she just wanted to enjoy this moment with John.

‘Thank you,’ she said after she had pulled away. ‘It’s getting late, though. I should really get to bed.’

John looked towards her door, a longing expression on his face and Rose could tell what he was thinking. 

There were certain traditions of the time period which Rose was extremely grateful for, namely, the waiting till marriage tradition. She didn’t mind kissing John, she actually rather enjoyed kissing John, but going further would feel like betraying the Doctor somehow. Not to mention how awkward it would be if the Doctor remembered. 

Luckily, John Smith was a gentleman.

‘Yes, quite right,’ he said, looking back down at her. He gave her another quick peck on the lips. ‘Goodnight, dear.’

‘Goodnight,’ she said and she retreated back into her room, unaware that, not too far away, Jeremy Baines was sitting in the Family’s spaceship. And he would never be the same again.


	25. Human Nature Part Two

Timothy Latimer knocked on Mister Smith’s door. The history teacher had mentioned a book that he thought Tim would find useful in his studies and had offered to lend it to him.

Mister Smith was quite an odd man, thought Tim. He seemed normal enough most of the time, but every now and then Tim caught him just staring out at the sky, a faraway look in his eye. He never mentioned it. He didn’t want to be rude and he had known boys who had gotten a beating for less. 

It was a few seconds before Mister Smith answered the door.

‘Ah, Mister Latimer. What can I do for you?’

‘Sorry to disturb you, sir,’ said Tim. ‘Miss Tyler told me to come and collect that book.’ 

‘Good lad. Yes. Yes!’ said Mister Smith, obviously only just remembering promising Tim the book. ‘The Definitive Account of Mafeking by Aitchison Price. Where did I put it?’ He invited Tim in and started searching for the book. ‘And I wanted a little word. Your marks aren't quite good enough.’

‘I'm top ten in my class, sir,’ said Tim, although he knew that Mister Smith was right. The truth was that he spent so much time doing everybody else’s homework; he hardly had any time left for his own.

It seemed that Mister Smith was harder to fool than the other teachers. ‘Now, be honest, Timothy, you should be the very top,’ he said, still searching for the book. ‘You're a clever boy. You seem to be hiding it. Where is that book? And I know why. Keeping your head low avoids the mockery of your classmates. But no man should hide himself, don't you think?’  

‘Yes, sir.’

Mister Smith disappeared around the corner to search for the book. He was still calling out encouragements but Tim was only half listening. Something else had caught his attention. He couldn’t explain why, but he felt drawn to a watch atop of  Mister Smith’s fireplace. He picked it up and almost dropped it out of shock. Voices were coming from it. Voices that sounded very far away.

_Time Lord._

_Hide yourself._

_The secret lies within. I'm trapped. I'm kept inside the cogs._

Tim opened the watch and a golden light shone out of it. The voices grew louder. 

_In the dark, waiting. Always waiting._

He quickly closed the watch and put it in his pocket. The watch needed to be safe and, for some reason, it didn’t feel safe with Mister Smith. 

Tim considered the possibility that he was actually going mad. Reading people to the point where one may call it mind reading was one thing... but a talking watch? That was bizarre even for him.  

Mister Smith returned to the room, the elusive book in hand. ‘Fascinating details about the siege. Really quite remarkable.’ He looked up at Tim. ‘Are you all right?’  
   
‘Yes, sir,’ said Tim, trying to be convincing. ‘Fine, sir.’  

Mister Smith didn’t seem to believe him but let it pass. ‘Right then. Good. And remember. Use that brain of yours.’  

He handed the book to Tim.

_Power of a Time Lord._

As Tim took the book, a series of images flashed through his mind. Images of Mister Smith in strange clothes, holding a sort of blue torch.

‘You're really not looking yourself, old chap,’ said Mister Smith. Obviously he had not seen the visions. ‘Anything bothering you?’ 

‘No, sir,’ said Tim, trying to be convincing again. ‘Thank you, sir.’

He left the room as quickly as polite decorum would allow, not wanting to be asked any more questions.

He rushed to his room and sat on his bed and took out the watch. The voices were still speaking to him. It was mainly one voice now. The voice of a Time Lord. The voice of the Doctor.

\----

Rose pottered around the library, picking up books that the boys had left. She sighed as she picked up a leaflet from the floor; it was an advertisement for the upcoming village dance. For a moment she allowed herself to imagine going there with the Doctor. She had no idea if this body had the same moves as the last. She smiled as she remembered dancing around the console with her Doctor in leather.

Her smile faded as she remembered that neither of her Doctors were actually here. One had died after Satellite 5 and the other was trapped in a watch.

Although, she figured that dancing with John Smith would be just as nice. She looked down at the ring on her finger, it was really quite beautiful and it fit perfectly. Her mind wandered forwards a month to when the Doctor would return. Would he ask for the ring back? Or we he just ignore the fact that John Smith had even existed and just carry on like nothing had happened? Rose expected the latter.

She couldn’t help but feel uneasy. The past two months had been quite peaceful and she wasn’t sure how much longer their luck would last. And those strange lights in the sky last night were definitely not meteorites. Had the Family found them?

She knew Martha had gone back to the TARDIS that morning to go over the Doctor’s instructions again, but she had only seen her once since and she hadn’t had a chance to speak with her. She made a mental note to sneak away later and find her.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. She turned and smiled as John popped his head through the doorway. ‘Not interrupting anything important, am I?’

‘Just me admiring my ring,’ said Rose holding up her hand.

This obviously pleased John, as he grinned at her and took a few quick strides to close the distance between them. ‘Only the best for my Rose,’ he said, taking her hand and kissing it.

Rose blushed, unsure of what to say to that. She decided to change the subject.

‘How was class?’

A shadow of guilt flickered across his face. He must have had shooting practice duties today. John Smith seemed to have accepted the expectations of the age, but, every now and then, a little bit of the Doctor shined through. And the Doctor didn’t like guns. Even less so when it was children who were being forced to fire them.

Rose rubbed his arm soothingly and John smiled down at her. ‘Just a usual day,’ he said. ‘How has your day been?’

‘Oh, you know, same old. The boys get the books off the shelves. They pretend to read the books. And then they pretend to forget to put the books back on the shelves.’

John chuckled. ‘You should be more strict with them.’

‘They’re just kids, John. I was doing worse at their age.’

‘Were you now?’ asked John, a mischievous glint in his eye. ‘I didn’t think your mother would stand for any nonsense.’

Rose laughed. ‘She didn’t.’

‘The amount of effort it took for me to impress her,’ continued John. ‘And then when I asked for your hand in marriage, I thought she might actually slap me.’

This just made Rose laugh harder. John had all these stories in his head, many of which involving her, and Rose didn’t know any of them. She had come to enjoy hearing about John Smith’s past, it helped remind her of the differences between him and the Doctor. Her mind flittered back to the idea dancing at the village dance.

‘I was thinking…’ she began but lost her nerve halfway through her sentence.

‘Yes?’ asked John, encouragingly.

‘It’s silly. But I was wondering… there’s this dance on at the village tonight… would you like to go?’

John paused for a moment but then smiled down at her. ‘That would be lovely.’

Rose smiled back. ‘Just one thing… do you actually know how to dance?’

John thought for a moment and Rose worried that she might've just ruined everything by asking something she should have already known the answer to.

‘I have absolutely no idea,’ he said finally and Rose could breathe again.

‘Well, we’ll just have to find out tonight,’ she teased.

‘Indeed. It will be good practice for the wedding.’

Rose’s smile faltered. ‘Yeah.’

‘What’s wrong?’’ he asked, noticing her change in mood.

‘Nothing,’ she lied. ‘Just, I don’t think I have anything appropriate to wear.’ It wasn’t a total lie. She could find a fancy dress in the TARDIS, no problem, but she didn’t have anything at the school with her.

Still, John seemed convinced.

‘Oh, we can’t have that,’ he said. ‘I think a trip to the village is in order.’

‘John, you don’t have to,’ said Rose but John put up his hands in protest.

‘I insist. Like I said, only the best for my Rose.’

\----

The walk to the village was a pleasant one. John had chattered away about classes and history while Rose just enjoyed the sound of his voice and the feel of his hand in hers. She tried to pay attention to what he was saying but it was all facts and figures and she knew she wouldn’t remember any of it so eventually she just gave up trying.

The village itself was not very busy. A few people were on the streets, shopping and gossiping. A couple of men were trying to hoist a grand piano to a second story window.

John grew quiet again as he started talking about the day’s classes. ‘I don’t think Latimer is feeling quite himself,’ he said.

‘He seemed fine yesterday when I saw him,’ said Rose.

‘He was acting… oddly when he came to get that book this morning. And then later, in class, he made a few too many mistakes, let the team down in front of the headmaster.’

Suddenly Rose understood. ‘You ordered a beating, didn’t you?’

John nodded, mournfully. ‘I had to. Tim’s work was not satisfactory. Discipline was due.’

‘That doesn’t make it right.’

‘It is a military school, Rose. Military discipline is expected.’

Rose made a disapproving noise. ‘Training boys to fight a war. Doesn’t seem fair.’

‘Well, Great Britain is at peace, long may it reign.’

Rose fell silent, knowing that the peace would end in less than a year and those boys in the school would no longer be just practicing.  

‘Don’t you wish it were different sometimes?’ she asked.

‘Like in my dreams?’

Rose chuckled. ‘I suppose.’

John thought for a moment. ‘It would be interesting, to say the least, to be an otherworldly hero. Though, mankind can also be exceptional. Everyday life can provide honour and valour, and let's hope that from now on this, this country can find its heroes in smaller places… in the most…’ 

John wasn’t looking at Rose anymore, something across the street had diverted his attention. Rose followed his gaze and saw the two men struggling with the piano. It was hanging from a single rope. A woman pushing a pram was heading straight for them.

‘… ordinary of deeds.’  

John snatched a cricket ball from a nearby child and lobbed it at some scaffolding outside a nearby building. The scaffolding fell and hit a plank of wood, which, in turn, sent bricks flying into the air, knocking down a milk churn in front of the woman, just seconds before the rope snapped and the piano fell to the street.

Rose’s jaw fell to the floor. That was some throw.

‘Lucky,’ said John.

Rose shook her head. ‘That was brilliant! And definitely more than luck.’

John blushed a little. ‘I’m just glad they are all right.’ He nodded towards the woman and her baby who were now surrounded by concerned bystanders.

Rose smiled proudly at him, maybe there was more of the Doctor in him than she realised.

‘Shall we go buy you a dress?’ asked John, pointing to the shops up ahead. Rose nodded and they continued down the street.

\----

‘Tell me how we met,’ said Rose. Her and John were currently walking past the fields that led back towards the school. She had a shopping bag in one hand; her other hand was clasped in John’s.

‘You know how we met,’ said John.

‘But I like to hear you tell it, seeing as you’re so good at telling stories,’ she teased. 

The truth was, she didn’t actually know how John thought they met. She had managed to pick up little details about his past, like his mother’s name and where he grew up, but as for the stuff about them... it had been rather tricky to get out of him. She couldn’t exactly ask him straight out.

John chuckled. ‘Well, you were just a teenager, working at the markets… I felt so guilty, courting someone so young.’

‘I wasn’t complaining,’ said Rose before she could stop herself.

John chuckled again. ‘No, you weren’t. Your mother, on the other hand…’

Rose let out a laugh. ‘Oh, she hated you at first.’

John nodded vigorously. ‘That she did.’

‘She came round in the end, though.’

John smiled down at her. ‘I suppose. Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, so there you were, in the markets. You had been left to mind the shop by yourself, like you had many times before, but there were some new lads in town - a real surly lot - and they didn’t like you telling them that they couldn’t have your earnings for the day. They started trashing your shop and getting violent. Just as they had you backed up against the wall, I came in, very manly, I might add, and I took your hand and I told you-’

‘Run,’ whispered Rose and John smiled at her.

‘Run. And run we did. And from that moment, I knew that this was going to be something special.’ He squeezed her hand a little harder.

Rose smiled back up at him, not trusting herself to speak. John’s story was so close to the truth, it hurt.

She was saved from saying anything by something in the field that had caught John’s eye. ‘That scarecrow is askew,’ he said and started to walk over to it. She shook her head to clear it and followed him across the field.

‘So, I didn’t know you were good at sport,’ said Rose. ‘You could play in the Ashes with that throw.’

John blushed again. ‘I didn’t know, either, actually.’ He finished straightening the scarecrow. ‘Well, my work is done. What do you think?’

Rose studied the scarecrow critically before smiling. ‘A true masterpiece,’ she said.

John chuckled as he took her hand and started to lead her back towards the road. ‘All sorts of skills today.’ Neither person noticed the scarecrow turn its head to watch them walk away.

\----

Rose walked briskly down the halls of the school, trying to find Martha. Maybe she had some news on that strange bright light they had seen last night. 

Rose was so focused on her task that she almost walked right into Nurse Redfern.

‘Oh, Miss Tyler, sorry, I didn’t see you there,’ said Joan.

‘No, no, entirely my fault,’ insisted Rose.

Joan smiled politely. ‘Would you tell Mister Smith that I have almost finished with his marvelous book. I should be able to finish it tonight and return it in the morning.’

‘Of course- Wait, finish it tonight? Surely you’ll be at the dance?’

Joan looked down to the floor, embarrassed. ‘Nobody has asked me,’ she admitted.

‘So? One does not need a man to enjoy a night of dancing,’ said Rose, giving Joan a reassuring smile.

Joan looked up and smiled at her. ‘Thank you, Miss Tyler.’

‘Please, call me Rose.’

Joan nodded. ‘And you can call me Joan. Nurse Redfern seems so formal.’ She made a face and Rose laughed.

‘Joan it is.’

‘Right, yes, well… it seems I have a dance to prepare for,’ said Joan. ‘Have a nice evening, Mi- Rose.’

Rose smiled at the nurse. ‘You too.’

Joan walked away and Rose continued on her quest to find Martha.

\----

Martha made tea as she waited for Jenny. It was so rare that they got these small luxuries, Martha was sure her friend would be pleased.

As she made the tea, her mind wandered back to the previous night. That strange light was definitely no meteorite, but was it connected to the Family? Martha hoped not. Not now that they were so close to the end of this horrible adventure. The Doctor’s instructions had been no help whatsoever.

Martha would have been lying if she had said that she hated everything about this place. Jenny and the other servants were all lovely people and she would miss them but she would be very glad to say goodbye to nineteen-thirteen. Being degraded and ridiculed was not what she had signed up for when she had agreed to go travelling through time and space.

Martha was just grateful that she was not in this alone. She couldn’t imagine how hard it would have been to keep track of the Doctor without Rose. Plus, it was nice to have another friend that understood a little and would listen to her complaints about the spoilt brats that roamed the school halls.

Martha wasn’t sure if she was jealous of Rose or pitied her. She got to be the Doctor’s fiancé, and got to partake in (most of) the activities associated with that fact… but it wasn’t really the Doctor. Being so close and yet so far, it must be hard. Maybe this little exercise in being human would help the Doctor admit his feelings for Rose but Martha doubted it. He would probably just hide from it as he always did and Rose would come out the end of it a little more heartbroken than before. But when John looked at Rose like she was the center of his universe, Martha couldn’t help but lean towards the jealousy side.

Jenny walked through the door just as Martha had finished with the tea. Martha pushed her thoughts away and put a smile on her face. ‘There you are,’ she said. ‘Come and look what I've got. Mister Poole didn't want his afternoon tea so Cook said I could have it. And there's enough for two.’ Jenny remained impassive at the doorway. ‘What are you standing there for?’ 

Jenny let out a big sniff of air, her expression focused, as if she was looking for something. That was odd. ‘Are you all right?’ asked Martha as she sat down.

Jenny looked at her and smiled sweetly, back to her old self. ‘I must have a cold coming on,’ she said and she joined Martha at the table.  

Martha did quite enjoy these meals with her friend. Maybe she might ask the Doctor if Jenny could join them in the TARDIS. Thinking of the Doctor again, Martha made a decision. She needed advice. ‘The problem is, I keep thinking about them, but I don't know what to do,’ she told Jenny.  

‘Thinking about who?’  

‘Mister Smith and Miss Tyler. Because he’s going to leave in a few weeks, and I don’t think their relationship is going to survive it.’ 

‘Why?’ asked Jenny, she had that concentrated look on her face again.   

‘It's like his contract comes to an end, and he’s going to have to leave, and she's going to be heartbroken.’  

‘Leave for where?’  

‘All sorts of places. I wish I could tell you, Jenny, but it's complicated.’   

‘In what way?’ Jenny was asking a lot more questions than usual.   

‘I just can't,’ said Martha. 

‘It sounds so interesting. Tell me. Tell me now.’

Now that did not sound like Jenny. Something was definitely wrong. Martha quickly changed the subject. ‘Would you like some tea?’ she asked, indicating to the teapot.  

Jenny smiled again but this time Martha could see that it was faked. ‘Yes, thanks.’  

‘I could put a nice bit of gravy in the pot. And some mutton. Or sardines and jam. How about that?’ She needed to leave. She didn’t know exactly who she was talking to but it sure as hell wasn’t Jenny.  

‘I like the sound of that,’ said Not-Jenny.  

‘Right. Hold on a tick.’

Martha got up and calmly made her way out of the room. Once out of sight, she bolted. A green laser beam missed her by inches as she ran across the courtyard - the same kind of laser that they had been running from two months ago on that forest planet - and Martha now knew who had taken over or copied Jenny’s body. 

The Family had found them.

\----

Rose had not managed to find Martha. She had been short of time and her friend was probably off doing her maid duties so Rose had given up and returned to her room to get ready for the dance. The dress John had bought for her was a little uncomfortable and hard to move in, but the look on his face when he answered his door and saw her in it for the first time…. definitely worth it.

‘What do you think?’ asked Rose as she (very slowly) did a spin.

It took John a moment to find his words. ‘Absolutely beautiful,’ he said with such conviction that Rose stopped mid-spin.

‘You think so?’

He moved over to her and covered her hands with his. ‘I know so.’

Rose blushed a little at the compliment. He brought his finger to her chin, lifting her head up a little so he could bend down and kiss her.

‘So, are you just about ready to go?’ she asked after John had pulled away.

‘Just about. I-’

He was interrupted by Martha bursting into the room.

‘They found us!’

Rose paled. The Family were here? They had to leave. They had to open the watch.

‘I've seen them,’ continued Martha, trying to catch her breath. ‘They look like people, like us, like normal. I'm sorry, but you've got to open the watch.’ She went to the mantle to retrieve the watch but stopped, a look of panic on her face. ‘Where is it? Oh, my God. Where's it gone? Where's the watch?’

Rose moved over to join the search. ‘It was here last time I checked,’ she said, trying not to let her own panic show. She turned to John. ‘Have you moved it?’  

‘What are you talking about?’ asked John, clearly confused.  

‘You had a watch,’ said Martha. ‘A fob watch. Right there.’ She pointed to the spot on the mantelpiece where the watched had sat for the past two months.  

‘Did I? I don't remember.’  

Martha let out a growl of frustration. ‘But we need it. Oh, my God, Doctor, we're hiding from aliens, and they've got Jenny and they've possessed her or copied her or something, and you've got to tell me, where's the watch?’

John looked over to Rose, an understanding smile on his face. ‘Oh, I see. Cultural differences.’ He turned back to Martha. ‘It must be so confusing for you,’ he said as if speaking to a child. ‘Martha, that book I gave to Nurse Redfern, about the Doctor, that is what we call a story.’  

Martha’s jaw dropped in astonishment. ‘Oh you complete… This is not you. This is nineteen-thirteen.’  

‘Good,’ said John in the same tone as before. ‘This is nineteen-thirteen.’   

‘I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, but I've got to snap you out of this.’ Martha raised her hand and slapped John. ‘Wake up!’ she shouted. ‘You're coming back to the TARDIS with me.’  

‘How dare, how dare you!’ roared John. ‘I'm not going anywhere with an insane servant. Martha, you are dismissed. You will leave these premises immediately. Now get out!’ He grabbed her by the arm and pushed her out the door. 

Rose watched on helplessly. She wanted to slap him as well (though, for different reasons than Martha had) but she couldn’t risk John thinking her insane too. If the Family was back, and they didn’t have the watch, then John needed protecting. 

‘The nerve of it,’ said John after he had closed the door in Martha’s face. ‘The absolute cheek. You think I'm a fantasist? What about her?’

‘Did you have to be so forceful?’ said Rose.

‘She slapped me!’ said John, astonished that Rose was siding with Martha. ‘It was nice of you to humour her with looking for a non-existent watch, but there has to be a limit.’

‘But John... you do have a fob watch. It was sitting on the mantle piece yesterday. Don't you remember?’

\----

Martha ran down the corridors of the school, now more determined than ever. Deep down, she knew it wasn’t John’s fault he didn’t understand… but he was still being an arse! They needed the Doctor. And without the watch, they had to think of another way to wake him up. Hopefully Rose could talk some sense into him. 

Martha didn’t blame Rose for not interfering. If she had done, then John wouldn’t have trusted either of them. Martha knew that, now they knew the Family was here, Rose wouldn’t leave John’s side. But they needed a back up plan in case Rose couldn’t convince John of who he really was. 

Martha stopped for a moment and then made her decision. She turned and ran out of the building, towards where the TARDIS was hidden. Maybe if John could see something real from the Doctor’s life, he would remember. He would realise his dreams were real.

Martha was so focused on her mission that she didn’t see Tim in her way. She bumped into him, almost sending them both to the ground. ‘Oh, sorry!’ she shouted, already turning away. 

‘Martha?’  

‘Not now, Tim. Busy!’

She didn’t look back to see the bewildered look on Tim’s face.

\----

‘Mister Smith?’ called out Son of Mine through Jeremy Baine’s lips. He followed Mother of Mine into the teacher’s study. ‘No one home.’  

Mother of Mine began to search the room. The body she had chosen was not as agile as she would have liked but the young servant’s mind had been invaluable. It was through Jenny’s memories and her friend’s words that Mother of Mine had learned of the strange Mister Smith who had arrived at the school two months ago. ‘The maid was definitely hiding something,’ she said. ‘A secret around this Mister Smith and his fiancé.’  

‘We both scented him, though. He was plain and simple human.’  

‘Maybe he knows something. Where is he?’

‘Perhaps with his fiancé, the librarian.’

The two Family members left Mister Smith’s room and walked towards the library. Father of Mine met them in the hall.

‘Any sign of the Time Lord?’ he asked.

‘Not yet but he can’t be far,’ said Son of Mine. ‘Mother of Mine and I were about try the library. If Mister Smith knows anything about the Doctor, then surely his fiancé would too.’

Father of Mine, in the form of a farmer named Mister Clark, nodded and followed them towards the library.

They entered the large room only to find it empty as well. The three Family members took a big sniff of the air. ‘I can smell time energy,’ said Mother of Mine. ‘But it is faint. The Time Lord has been here. Where else could he be?’

‘The librarian definitely knows something of the Doctor and so does the maid,’ said Son of Mine. ‘Mother of Mine, search your host's memories, maybe she knew more than she realised.’

Mother of Mine closed her eyes and sifted through the pitiful human’s memories. ‘The maid was her friend. Martha would go walking to the west.’ She opened her eyes. ‘Husband of Mine, follow the maid's scent. Go to the west. Find out what she was keeping secret. Son of Mine and I will find Mister Smith and Miss Tyler.’

‘I think this might help,’ said Father of Mine, holding up a flyer he had picked up off the desk. It advertised a dance being held at the village. 

Mother of Mine smiled and turned towards her son. ‘That makes it easy, Son of Mine. Because Daughter of Mine is already there.’  

Son of Mine smiled back at his mother. ‘We've been invited to the dance.’

\----

Rose sat at a table in the village hall, watching John as he got refreshments for them both. He gave her a wave and she smiled at him.

Once he had looked back away, she swept her eyes over all the other guests. Martha had said that the Family had taken over or copied Jenny. That meant they could be anybody. She didn’t like the idea of being here with so many unfamiliar faces but to back out so soon before the dance would have caused suspicion.

Rose saw Martha walking towards her and smiled at her, relieved that she was all right.

‘You okay?’ she asked as Martha sat down.

Martha nodded and pulled out the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver from her pocket. ‘I got this. I thought maybe it might help convince John of who he really is. Any luck on finding the watch?’

Rose shook her head. ‘I think maybe that perception filter thing works a little too well. John doesn’t remember it at all.’

‘Oh, now really, Martha,’ exclaimed John as he returned to the table. ‘This is getting out of hand. I must insist that you leave.’

Martha held up the screwdriver to him. ‘Do you know what this is? Name it. Go on, name it.’

Rose held her breath as John took the screwdriver and studied it intently. Maybe Martha’s plan would work.   

‘You're not John Smith,’ said Martha. ‘You're called the Doctor. The man in your journal, he's real. He's you.’

John looked like he was about to say something but a shout from behind them cut him off. 

‘There will be silence! All of you!’ shouted Jeremy Baines. He was standing at the front of the room with Jenny. Scarecrows walked into the room from behind them and people backed away hurriedly. ‘I said, silence!’

A man stepped out in front of the crowd and addressed Baines. ‘I say, young man. What is the meaning of this?’

To answer his question, Baines pulled out a gun and vapourised the man. People in the crowd began to scream.  
   
Martha turned to John. ‘Mister Smith? Everything I told you, just forget it! Don't say anything.'

‘I asked for silence!’ shouted the alien that had taken Jeremy Baines’s form. ‘Now then, we have a few questions for Mister Smith.’  

‘No, better than that,’ said a young girl with a balloon. She skipped over to join the two Family members. Rose felt her heart sink. The girl couldn’t have been much older than ten. What had they done to her? 

‘The teacher, he's the Doctor,’ said the little girl. ‘I heard them talking.’

‘You took human form,’ said Baines, now understanding the situation.

Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for John. 

‘Of course I'm human,’ he said. ‘I was born human, as were you, Baines. And you, Jenny. What is going on? This is madness!’  

‘Oooh, and a human brain, too,’ said Baines. ‘Simple, thick and dull.’ 

‘But he's no good like this,’ said Jenny. Her voice lacked her usual spark of joy and hope. ‘We need a Time Lord.’  

‘Easily done,’ said Baines and he stepped forwards and pointed his gun at John. Rose unconsciously gripped his hand in hers. ‘Change back.’   

‘I don't know what you're talking about,’ said John, panic in his voice. 

‘Change back!’ repeated Baines.  

‘I literally do not know!’  

Jenny, now holding her own gun, grabbed Martha and pulled her out of the crowd.

‘Get off me!’ yelled Martha as she struggled against her grip. But it was no use. 

Jenny pointed the gun at Martha’s head. ‘She's your friend, isn't she?’ she directed at John. ‘Doesn't this scare you enough to change back?’  

‘I don't know what you mean!’ shouted John, even more panicked now.

Before Rose could even blink, Baines reached forwards and yanked her away from John and held her in front of him. He gave a big sniff of the air near her hair. ‘This one smells of time energy… but she is not a Time Lord.' Rose felt the cool metal of the gun against her temple. ‘But she still may be of use. Change back!’

Rose eyes met John’s. They were wide with fright. 

‘Have you enjoyed it, Doctor, being human?’ asked Baines. ‘Has it taught you wonderful things? Are you better, richer, wiser? Then let's see you answer this. Which one of them do you want us to kill? Maid or librarian? Your friend or your lover? Your choice.’


	26. The Family of Blood Part One

_‘Which one of them do you want us to kill? Maid or librarian? Your friend or your lover? Your choice.’_

Rose looked into John’s frightful eyes, willing him not to give in to their demand.

‘Make your decision, Mister Smith,’ said Jenny, getting impatient. 

Baines pressed the gun harder against Rose’s skull. ‘Perhaps if the human heart breaks, the Time Lord will emerge.’

Suddenly, the Family turned their heads to the back of the room in unison, as if sensing something. ‘It’s him,’ whispered Baines. 

Rose didn’t know what had distracted them but she didn’t care. This was her best chance to escape. Unfortunately, her dress did not understand the urgency of the situation. The uncomfortable item of clothing hindered her attempt to spin out of Baines’s grip and she stumbled as she tried to get the gun. Baines grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to him, once again pressing the weapon to her head.

Luckily, Martha had been more successful in her escape attempt. She had grabbed Jenny’s gun and had now switched their positions. 

She pointed the gun at Baines. ‘All right!’ she shouted. ‘One more move and I shoot.’ 

‘Oh, the maid is full of fire,’ said Baines, clearly enjoying himself. 

‘And you can shut up!’ snapped Martha and she pointed the gun upwards and fired. Dust swirled around them as the laser burnt a hole through the ceiling.  
  
‘Shoot you down!’ said Baines, once again pressing his gun harder into Rose’s head. 

‘We'll die together, then,’ said Rose. 

Baines studied Martha. ‘Would you really pull the trigger? Looks too scared.’ 

‘Scared and holding a gun's a good combination. Do you want to risk it?’

Slowly, Baines lowered his gun and let go of Rose. She ran over and stood behind Martha. ‘Good job,’ she whispered in her ear.

‘Get everyone out,’ said Martha. ‘There's a door at the side. It's over there.’ 

‘Do what she said,’ said Joan, emerging from the crowd. ‘Everybody out now. Don't argue, Mister Jackson. They're mad. That's all we need to know. Susan, Miss Cooper, outside, all of you.’ 

The villagers all hurried out of the hall, each eager to get away from the madness, and soon there was only Martha, Rose, John, and Joan left. ‘You go too, Nurse Redfern,’ said John. ‘Get back to the school.’ Joan nodded and left. 

‘And you two,’ said Martha. 

‘No, I’m not leaving you,’ said Rose. 

‘Go on. Just shift,’ insisted Martha. 

‘What about you?’ asked John.

‘I’m not leaving,’ repeated Rose. 

Martha stared straight ahead at Baines. ‘Mister Smith, I think you should escort your fiancé to safety, don't you?’ 

Rose glared at Martha as John nodded and pulled her out the door. That was a dirty trick to get her out. 'I can't leave her on her own,' protested Rose but John wasn't letting up. He continued to usher her out of the hall, away from Martha and the Family, and out of harm's way.

Once outside, John approached a group of people. Tim Latimer was among them. ‘Mister Hicks, warn the village. Get everyone out. Latimer, get back to the school. Tell the headmaster-’ 

‘Don't touch me,’ said Tim, pulling away from John. ‘You're as bad as them.’ He ran off, leaving a stunned looking John behind him.

Mister Hicks ran off to begin the evacuation.

A couple of seconds later, Martha ran out of the hall, shouting at them. ‘Don't just stand there, move!’ She ran past them and they quickly followed her away from the buildings. Rose’s sides hurt from the effort but John had a tight grip on her hand and was pulling her along.

‘We have to get back to the school,’ said John. ‘Warn them.’

Rose stopped, pulling her hand out of John’s grasp to clutch at her side. ‘We can’t,’ she panted. ‘They’re just boys, we can’t put them in that danger. The Family are after you, they will only go there if that’s where they think you are.’

‘But the lads are trained in combat,’ said John. ‘They can fight.’

‘But they shouldn’t have to. Joan will warn them and they can protect themselves if need be but we can’t lead the Family there.’

‘Why do you keep calling them that? The Family?’

‘Because that’s who they are,’ said Martha. ‘And Rose is right. We need to get back to the TARDIS. Maybe it can help us find the watch.’

The sound of an approaching vehicle caused them to turn and look up the road. A truck was coming quickly towards them. Rose gasped as she saw what was on the back of it - the TARDIS.

‘So much for that plan,’ muttered Martha as both women pulled John behind some nearby bushes. They peered out and watched as an older man got out of the driver’s seat. Baines and Jenny approached him, smiling.

‘Well done, Husband of Mine,’ said Jenny.

‘Doctor! Doctor!’ called out the man. ‘Come home. Come and claim your prize!’ 

‘Out you come, Doctor,’ called out Baines. ‘There's a good boy. Come to the Family.’ 

‘Time to end it now,’ added Jenny. 

Rose looked up at John; he was staring at the TARDIS like he couldn’t believe it existed. ‘It’s the one from your dream,’ she said gently.

‘Come out, Doctor. Come to us!’ called Jenny. 

‘I've never seen it in my life,’ said John, his voice wavering. He didn’t want to admit the truth - he was scared. Rose put a hand on his arm.

‘Do you remember its name?’ asked Martha.

John looked to Rose, his eyes begging her to make sense of this chaos for him.

‘It’s the TARDIS,’ said Rose. ‘The blue box that you dream of; the Doctor’s TARDIS… _Your_ TARDIS.’

John looked between the two women. ‘I'm not- I'm John Smith. That's all I want to be. John Smith, with his life, and his job,’ he turned to Rose, ‘and his love. Why can't I be John Smith? Isn't he a good man?’

‘Of course he is,’ said Rose.

‘Then why can't I stay?’ 

Rose’s heart broke at the sound of the sorrow and fear in his voice. 

‘But we need the Doctor,’ said Martha. 

‘What am I, then?’ said John, turning towards her angrily. ‘Nothing. I'm just a story.’

John pulled his arm out of Rose’s grasp and fled. Rose and Martha shared a worried glance before following. 

\----

Rose and Martha caught up to John easily enough and the three of them walked silently through the woods. Eventually they came across a cottage, the door was ajar but it didn’t look like anyone was home.

‘Abandoned?’ asked Rose as they walked in.

‘Don’t think so,’ said Martha, pointing to the tea on the table.

‘Evacuated then?’ 

Martha shook her head doubtfully.

‘What happened to Jenny and the others?’ asked John.

‘I think they’re dead,’ said Rose, mournfully.

‘Consumed by the Family,’ said Martha.

John nodded and then straightened up. ‘I must go to them, before anyone else dies.’

‘You can’t!’ said Rose. 

‘Then what should we do?’ asked John, panic and anger rising in his voice again. ‘You're this Doctor's companions. Can't you help? What exactly do you do for him? Why does he need you?’ Rose and Martha backed away slightly at his outburst. 

‘Because he's lonely,’ said Rose, softly. 

‘And that's what you want me to become?’ 

Rose couldn’t bear the betrayal on his face. She stepped forward to comfort him, to try and reassure him, but stopped at the sound of a knock at the door. They all turned to look at it suspiciously. 

‘Is that them?’ asked John.

‘I'm not an expert,’ said Martha, ‘but I don't think scarecrows knock.’ She walked over to the door and opened it to reveal Tim Latimer. 

‘I brought this,’ said Tim as he stepped inside and held out the silver fob watch. 

Martha took it from him and held it out to John. ‘Hold it,’ she said.

John backed away from her hand as if it would burn him. ‘I won't.’ 

‘Please, John,’ said Rose. ‘Just hold it.’ 

‘It told me to find you,’ said Tim. ‘It wants to be held.’ 

‘You've had it the whole time?’ asked Rose. ‘Why didn't you give it to us earlier?’ 

‘Because it was waiting... And because I was so scared of the Doctor.’

‘Scared of the Doctor?’ asked Rose, honestly confused. The only people who should fear the Doctor were those like the Family. Those hell bent on destruction.

‘Because I've seen him,’ said Tim. ‘He's like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night and the storm in the heart of the sun.’ 

‘Stop it,’ said John. 

‘He's ancient and forever. He burns at the centre of time and he can see the turn of the universe.’ 

‘Stop it! I said stop it.’

‘And he's wonderful,’ finished Tim.

There was silence for a moment as John tried to take in what Tim had said. 

A bang echoed from outside and the cottage shook. ‘What the hell?’ said Martha and they made their way towards the window. 

Rose watched as fireballs fell out of the sky and towards the village. ‘They're destroying the village,’ she gasped. ‘All those people…’

John turned from the window and grabbed the watch from Martha’s hand. For a minute, Rose thought he might open it, but instead he just stared down at the item.

‘Can you hear it?’ asked Tim. Rose wasn’t sure what he meant, she couldn’t hear anything.

‘I think he's asleep,’ said John. ‘Waiting to awoken.’ 

‘Why did he speak to me?’ asked Tim. 

‘Oh, low level telepathic field,’ said John, his accent changing to that of the Doctor’s. ‘You were born with it. Just an extra synaptic engram causing-’ John reeled from his the sudden outburst and held the watch further away from him. ‘Is that how he talks?’ 

John's eyes were once again fearful but Rose’s were full of hope. ‘That’s him,’ she said. 

‘All you have to do is open it and he's back,’ said Martha. 

John looked at Rose, the betrayal returning to his eyes. Rose suddenly felt incredibly guilty. ‘You knew this all along and yet you still let me believe…’

Rose looked down at the floor. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said earnestly. ‘But I had to keep you safe.’ 

‘He gave us a list of things to watch out for but that wasn't included,’ added Martha, trying to help.

John looked at her incredulously ‘Falling in love? That didn't even occur to him?’ 

Rose shook her head, sadly. ‘No.’ 

‘Then what sort of man is that?’ asked John. He seemed to be only just holding himself together. ‘And now you expect me to die?’ 

Another explosion from outside shook the room. ‘It was always going to end, though!’ said Martha. ‘The Doctor said the Family's got a limited lifespan, and that's why they need to consume a Time Lord. Otherwise, three months and they die. Like mayflies, he said.’

‘So your job was to execute me?’ 

‘People are dying out there,’ said Martha desperately. ‘They need him and so do we.’ She gestured to herself and Rose.

‘She’s right, John,’ whispered Rose.

Another explosion shook the room. This one closer than the last. ‘It's getting closer,’ said Tim. 

John held up the watch. ‘I should have thought of it before,’ he said. ‘I can give them this. Just the watch. Then they can leave and I can stay as I am.’

‘You can't!’ shouted Martha and Rose together. 

‘If they want the Doctor, they can have him,’ said John, ignoring them. 

‘He'll never let you do it,’ said Martha.

‘If they get what they want, then... then…’

‘Then they’ll kill everyone,’ said Rose. ‘And they won’t stop. Not ever.’ John backed towards the wall again. He didn’t look like he could hold it together much longer. ‘Martha can you take Tim outside for a minute?’ The least she could do was give John this last bit of privacy.

Martha nodded and led Tim outside and shut the door behind them. As soon as they had left Rose moved over to John and he began to sob into her shoulder. She started to rub comforting circles on his shoulder, like the Doctor had done for her so many times before. ‘I wish you didn’t have to do this,’ she said softly. ‘And I am truly sorry.’

John stopped sobbing and looked up at her, his eyes pleading. He didn’t want to go. ‘He won't love you,’ he said.

‘It doesn’t matter.’ 

‘But, it was real, wasn’t it? You weren’t just... I really thought.’

‘Shhh,’ soothed Rose, taking his hand. It was the one holding the watch and as soon as her skin touched the cool metal, an image appeared in her mind. She was standing in a white dress next to John, happiness radiating off of them. John smiled down at her and kissed her. Wedding bells rang in the background.

There was a flash and the image changed to one of her and John walking through a park, a small child swinging from their hands between them. 

The vision ended with another flash and Rose looked up at John, tears were forming in his eyes. ‘We could have a life like that,’ he said. ‘One he could never have.’ 

Rose smiled sadly. ‘It’s one I could never have as well, John. I don’t age.’ 

Another vision flashed before them both. An image of an old John on his deathbed, holding Rose’s still youthful hand. There was another flash and the vision ended. 

Rose shook her head to try and keep the tears away. ‘And even if I did,’ she continued. ‘I love the travelling too much. I would miss the adventure.’ 

John stared at her intently. Unbeknownst to Rose, he had already made his decision.

‘What are you going to do?’ asked Rose after a few moments of listening to the explosions outside.

John didn’t say anything; he just leant down and brought his lips to hers. Rose tried to pour all her heart into the kiss. She didn’t notice the bright light of the fob watch being opened. The kiss suddenly gained intensity as John deepened it, like a man who thought that it was his last one. Rose supposed it was. 

John pulled away from her and rested his forehead against hers; they were both a bit breathless. Rose kept her eyes closed; she didn’t want to see the hurt in his eyes as she said what she was about to say. 

‘I’m so sorry John, but the Doctor is all I have left and I… I love him. So much. And it doesn’t matter that he doesn’t love me back because we are and always will be a team. And I hate that I’m asking you to do this - to die for him - but I need the Doctor.’ 

Rose felt his forehead leave hers and listened to him walk out the door without a word. Only after she was sure that he was gone did she open her eyes and let the tears fall.


	27. The Family of Blood Part Two

The Doctor had expected it to hurt, but opening the watch had turned out to be more like waking up from a bad night’s sleep; there were a few aches and pains, but that was about it. He vaguely remembered what had happened while he had been John Smith but it was like a dream. 

It was a few seconds before he realised what was happening. Rose was kissing him! Before he could stop himself, he deepened the kiss, knowing that this was going to be his last chance. After a moment, he forced himself to pull away, but no matter how guilty he felt, he couldn’t bring himself to pull away from her completely. He rested his forehead against hers, feeling more content than he had in months. 

Then she started to speak.

The devotion she had for him was overwhelming but unwarranted and the guilt hit him like a slap in the face. He had taken everything from her and now he was all she had left. How could he have been so selfish? 

But he wasn’t the only one to blame, not this time. The Family had caused this pain she was feeling and he was going to make sure that they suffered for it. He was going to make them pay for what they had done this night - for all of it. Without saying a word, he got up and left the cottage.

\----

When Rose had finally stopped crying, she made her way out of the cottage and Martha had told her that the Doctor was back and that he had said for them to stay where they were. But Rose was having none of that. The thought of a nice warm shower was just too much of a temptation. So now here she sat, in a comfortable pair of jeans and a light blue button up top, sitting on her soft bed in the warm TARDIS, staring at the wall but not really seeing it. She couldn’t get the image of John’s face out of her mind. The betrayal she saw in his eyes was not something she was likely to forgive herself for. 

Because John was right. She and Martha _had_ been his executioners. Maybe if they had had more time to properly think over the plan, things may have been different, but they just hadn’t had the chance. They had given John life only for them to take it away again. They had asked a good man to die and now the Doctor was back and John was gone, just how it was always meant to end.

It was all the Family’s fault… No, Rose couldn’t accept that. They all had a share in the blame this time.

Rose sighed and got to her feet. She slowly made her way to her bedside table and opened the drawer. She placed the silver and blue ring next to the bio-damper that she had used as a fake wedding ring a few months ago (it felt like a lot longer). She was starting to get a collection, she thought dryly.

The sound of the TARDIS engines brought her out of her reverie. She half-ran half-jogged to the console room and walked in to see the Doctor at the controls. He had his back to her and she couldn’t see his expression but Rose could tell that he was angry by the tense way he held his shoulders.

The Family were all bound together in chains in the corner of the room, each trying not to show their fear, and failing.

‘Doctor?’ asked Rose, hesitantly.

He didn’t turn around. ‘Go back to your room, Rose.’ His tone was not demanding but it was evident that he didn’t want her to argue.

But that wasn’t going to stop her. She opened her mouth to ask him what he was going to do but was interrupted by Martha running up from behind her. ‘What’s going on?’ she asked.

Finally, the Doctor turned to face them and Rose could see the cold fury in his eyes. The Oncoming Storm.

‘You two are going to go back to your rooms,’ he said, ‘or the library, or wherever you like, just somewhere that’s not here. I have some things to deal with.’ He glanced menacingly at the Family in the corner. 

‘What are you going to do with them?’ asked Martha. 

‘Give them what they want.’ 

Martha looked confused but Rose shook her head at the Doctor. ‘You can’t.’

‘Oh, yes I can! If they want to live forever, then so be it.’

‘But what’s the point? They’re gonna die soon anyway. Just let them die.’ 

‘They don’t deserve that kindness.’ 

‘But you do.’

The Doctor faltered and Rose thought that she may have gotten through to him but he just turned back to the controls. She tentatively walked up to him and went to place her hand on his arm but he flinched at the movement and she retracted her hand. ‘You’re better than this,’ she said, softly. ‘You’re better than _them_.’ She reached out again with her hand and this time the Doctor didn’t move away. ‘Please, just let them die.’

The Doctor’s hands paused at the controls, he inclined his head to look at her and Rose saw the Storm slowly recede. He pulled his arm out of her grip, not out of fear or anger, but to move around the console to change course.

‘Where are we going?’ asked Martha.

‘Amortarani,’ said the Doctor. ‘It’s a small desert planet with no life forms other than slightly aggressive tumbleweeds. The perfect place for this lot to rot for the rest of their short lives.’

‘But what if other people visit?’ 

‘I’ll put a Quarantine on it for the next few months, just to be safe.’

The TARDIS groaned as it landed and the Doctor opened the doors and marched the family outside.

‘Is that it?’ asked Baines, his bravado returning. ‘Just leave us on an isolated sandpit and hope for the best? We will easily escape. I thought Time Lords were supposed to be intelligent.’

‘Oh, don’t test me!’ said the Doctor, turning angrily towards him. ‘You’re speaking out of the lips of a murdered boy! There are a million ways I could make you suffer for that. Forever.’

‘So why don’t you?’

‘Because you’re not worth it. Amortarani is on the edge of the solar system on the edge of the galaxy… no one is going to come along and help you escape.’

‘So this is the mercy of a Time Lord, is it?’

The Doctor glared at him. ‘Enjoy the tumbleweeds.’ 

Without looking back, he turned and stalked back inside the TARDIS and shut the door behind him, leaving the still chained Family to live the rest of their lives alone in the sand.

\----

Rose walked through the halls of Farringham school, but no longer as Miss Tyler, the librarian. Now she was Rose Tyler, the time-traveller, here to say goodbye to the few people she had befriended over the past two months.

Joan had been easy enough to find, and had been surprisingly understanding of the whole affair. Though that might have had something to do with the journal that still lay on her bedside table. A journal of impossible things indeed.

Rose’s other few friends had questioned her reasons for leaving, the absence of John making them suspicious. She tried to wave off their concerns but suspected that she failed. But then again, she didn’t really care. She wasn't coming back.

Rose had hoped to find Tim, but the young boy was nowhere to be found.

Saying one last goodbye to the Headmaster, who didn’t seem to believe a word of what had transpired the previous night in the village, Rose left Farringham school, determined never to return.

She walked up the small hill that the TARDIS was perched atop of. The Doctor and Martha were waiting for her (Martha had already said her goodbyes to the other maids at the school). The rain was starting to pour, making Rose feel numb all over.

‘How was everyone?’ asked Martha.

‘Fine,’ said Rose. ‘Didn’t make too many friends. Nobody will miss me for long, I’m sure. Though, Joan won’t forget us in a hurry, she still has the journal.’  
  
The Doctor cleared his throat awkwardly. ‘Time we were off,’ he said and Rose and Martha nodded. 

He went to unlock the TARDIS but stopped and turned back around to face them. ‘Oh, and I never said. Thanks for looking after me.’

Martha gave him a small smile and wound her arms around his neck in a tight hug. ‘Don’t mention it,’ she said.

Rose nodded, her smile matching Martha’s. ‘Always,’ she said. 

The Doctor stepped towards her as if gong in for a hug but stopped short. Rose wasn’t sure if she was disappointed or relieved. She didn’t want things to be awkward between them but she couldn’t help but feel a little hesitant to be too close too the Doctor. Not after having spent the last two months pretending to be engaged to a man that was but wasn’t him. 

‘Doctor. Martha. Rose,’ called out a voice from down the hill. Tim Latimer ran up to meet them. 

‘Tim Timothy Timber,’ said the Doctor, happily, though Rose could tell that it was forced. 

‘I just wanted to say goodbye. And thank you,’ said Tim. ‘Because I've seen the future and I now know what must be done. It's coming, isn't it? The biggest war ever.’  
  
‘You don't have to fight,’ said Martha.

‘I think we do.’ 

‘But you could get hurt.’ 

‘Well, so could you, travelling around with him, but it's not going to stop you.’

Rose smiled proudly at the young man. He was really quite brave. 

The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out the silver fob watch. ‘Tim, I'd be honoured if you'd take this.’

Tim took it and stared down at it for a second before frowning in confusion. ‘I can't hear anything.’ 

‘No, it's just a watch now. But keep it with you, for good luck.’ 

‘Look after yourself,’ said Martha, giving Tim a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She gave him one last smile before walking through the TARDIS door that the Doctor had just unlocked.

Rose hugged him too. ‘Good luck,’ she said before she followed Martha. She heard the Doctor say, ‘You'll like this bit,’ before he too entered the TARDIS and closed the door. 

‘What will happen to him?’ asked Rose as the Doctor pulled a lever, sending them away from nineteen-thirteen.

\----

Timothy Latimer sat in his wheelchair, other veterans stood beside him. It had been a long life full of tests and hardships, but Tim wouldn’t have traded any of it.

‘They have no lot in our labour of the day time,’ said the Vicar, reciting the ode that Tim now knew off by heart. ‘They sleep beyond England's foam. They went with songs to the battle. They were young, straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow. They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted. They fell with their faces to the foe.’

Something in the distance caught Tim’s eye and he turned his head to see a man and two women on the other side of the war memorial. It was like seeing ghosts from long ago but Tim knew that they were real, even though the they had not aged a day since he last saw them over half a century ago. 

Martha Jones pinned a poppy to the Doctor’s coat before turning back to face Tim. Rose Tyler gave him small wave and a tearful smile. 

Tim smiled back at them and looked down at the watch in his hand; the same silver fob watch that he had been given when he was just a schoolboy. The same watch he had kept with him every day since and would continue to do so for the rest of his life.

‘They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning. We will remember them.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you hoping for a proper conversation between the Doctor and Rose, one is coming up next chapter. Promise.


	28. Blink Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one turned out to be a lot longer than expected so I split it into two chapters.

To recover from a trying couple of months stuck in 1913, the TARDIS crew had decided to have another go at the moon landing. This time it had been a success. Though Rose still felt uneasy... like she had forgotten something potentially important.

A week later, Martha had voiced her desire to go see her family for a bit and maybe finally go to that dinner she had promised her mum.

Rose agreed that Martha should spend some time with her mother, after the couple of months she had had, she was sure to be needing it. Plus it meant that Rose might get some alone time with the Doctor. They hadn’t been alone since he had come back from being John Smith and Rose really needed to talk about what had happened between them. 

The Doctor obviously had other ideas.

Rose didn’t know how much longer she could pretend that nothing had happened. She wished she could, for the sake of her and the Doctor’s friendship - she didn’t want to jeopardise the relationship that they already had - but she couldn’t help but want more. Well, she had wanted more for a while now, it was just so much harder to ignore now, not now that she had had a small taste of what she was missing. John Smith wasn’t the same man as the Doctor, she knew that, but surely he must have come from somewhere? Those feelings that John had had for her didn’t just pop out of nowhere… did they?

Rose watched the central column move up and down and then finally settle in place as the TARDIS landed.

The Doctor turned to the scanner. ‘Ah,’ he said, awkwardly. ‘Well, not far off.’

‘How far off?’ asked Martha.

‘Well, right country, right decade.’ Martha crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow, silently demanding an answer. ‘We’re in London but we are a year too early. It’s 2007. Still, might as well take a look.’ 

He grinned and Martha uncrossed her arms and rolled her eyes at him, just barely concealing her own smile. The Doctor bounded to the doors and Martha and Rose followed.

The exited the TARDIS and found themselves in an overgrown front garden, an impressive looking house stood before them. Impressive, but obviously abandoned. The windows were mostly all boarded up and the garden had started to invade its walls. There was a faded “keep out” sign lying on the veranda.

‘Creepy,’ said Rose before smiling and turning to the Doctor and Martha. ‘Fancy a look?’ Both the Doctor and Martha smiled at her, Martha nodding enthusiastically. ‘Come on, then.’ She led the way up the path that led to the house.

The Doctor sonicked the door and it opened noisily. He poked his head inside quickly before straightening up and stepping inside as if he owned the place. Rose and Martha were a bit more cautious.

The house interior looked just as impressive and just as neglected as the exterior. Cobwebs covered almost every item as well as a thick layer of dust. The light shining through the windows threw strange shadows over the walls.

‘Anybody home?’ called out the Doctor, striding through the front room. There was no answer.

‘I don’t think anyone’s been home for years,’ said Martha, picking up an ornament for closer inspection. She put it down and wiped the dust from her hands. ‘I wonder who owns this place.’

‘It’s a nice house,’ said Rose. ‘Why would anyone let it get this way? It's gotta be worth a bit.’

‘Maybe its one of those “murder houses”,' said Martha, a hint of intrigue in her voice. She took another glance around the room and shuddered. ‘Forget I said that.’

The Doctor made his way up the stairs, taking them two at a time. ‘Looks the same up here,’ he called down to them. Martha and Rose continued on to the kitchen. More broken glass and dust awaited them.

‘So, have you two had the chance to talk yet?’ asked Martha. ‘Properly, I mean.’

Rose shook her head. ‘Not yet. I think he’s avoiding it.’

‘You can’t let him, not this time.’

‘I know… it’s just… what if it makes things worse? He's my best friend, I don’t want that to change.’

‘I don’t think you have to worry about that,’ said Martha. ‘He cares about you too much. Where is he anyway? I thought he was coming straight back down.’

‘He probably just got distracted by a crack in a wall or something,’ said Rose. ‘You know what he’s like. You go check on him, there’s another room across the hall that I want to check out.’

‘Now who’s avoiding things?’ teased Martha before making her way upstairs.

Rose smiled cheekily at Martha but let it fall after she had gone. She sighed and walked down the hall.

‘Rose…’ called Martha from upstairs.

‘Did you find him?’ she yelled back. 

‘No but there’s this-’

Rose stopped and looked towards the ceiling. She couldn’t hear anything anymore, not even footsteps. ‘Martha?’ she called. 

No answer.

She slowly made her way up the stairs, every now and then calling out to the Doctor or Martha, never getting an answer in return.

She walked along the hall of the second floor, checking rooms as she went, but she couldn’t see any sign of Martha or the Doctor. Where could they have possibly have gotten to?

She walked out of the second room and something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. At the end of the hall, there was a statue. Rose could have sworn that it hadn’t been there before she had gone into the room. 

She cautiously walked up to it to get a better look. It looked like an angel with its hands covering its face. Like it was crying… or hiding.

Rose tentatively reached out and tapped the Angel’s arm. Definitely stone. Still… something didn’t feel right. Rose slowly backed away from it.

Eventually, she reached the banister of the stairway and put her hand on it to guide herself. Dust swirled up from where her hand had landed and Rose covered her nose as she sneezed. When she opened her eyes again she almost stumbled back from shock. The Angel wasn’t at the end of the hall anymore – it was right in front of her. One of its hands was reaching towards her, so close that Rose could reach out and meet it with her own hand if she wanted to. She didn’t. 

Whatever that thing was, it wasn’t a statue. 

‘I know you’re not a statue,’ said Rose, a little shakily. ‘And I know you’re not from Earth.’ The Angel gave no response. ‘What do you want?’ Still no response. ‘Are you stuck here? Cause I have this friend who can help. He’s called the Doctor. Where is he? Where’s Martha?’ 

The Angel remained silent.

Deciding that this wasn’t going anywhere, Rose very slowly backed down the stairs, this time using the wall for support so not to disturb any more dust. She needed to get back to the TARDIS. If she found out what this thing was, she could find out what had happened to the Doctor and Martha. Maybe they were still alive.

She made it to the bottom of the stairs, looking down briefly to make sure she didn’t trip. When she looked up again, the Angel was at the stop of the stairs, its hands once again covering it’s face.

Walking backwards the entire way, she made it to the TARDIS, her key already in her hand ready. She blindly reached behind her to fit it in the lock. It didn’t work very well so she had to look away from the house for a second to get the key in the keyhole.

She quickly looked back and saw the Angel at the window, watching her. Rose was thankful that there only seemed to be one, for now, at least.

She turned the key behind her back and ran into the TARDIS, closing the door behind her.

\----

After almost three hours of going through the TARDIS databanks and library, Rose had found a book that described something like what Rose had seen - a Weeping Angel. At least, she was fairly certain that’s what it was… the book she had found didn’t have any pictures.

Rose breathed a sigh of relief when she read that the Weeping Angels didn’t strictly kill their victims, they sent them years into the past to live out the rest of their life while the Angel fed on something called “potential energy”.

That meant that the Doctor and Martha were still alive but they were trapped in the past. Again.

Maybe Rose could find a manual for the TARDIS somewhere? Then she could fly it. But how would she know what year they were in? Rose decided that she had to try anyway. Maybe if she looked hard enough through the history book, she would find a clue left for her by the Doctor.

Twenty more hours of searching wielded nothing and Rose was struggling to stay awake. Reasoning that she would have a better chance of helping her friends with a clear head. She crawled up onto the couch and fell asleep.

\----

Waking up six hours later, Rose groaned at the uncomfortable position her body had twisted itself into whilst sleeping. It was a moment or two before she remembered why she was in the library.

She quickly got up and got changed and made her way to the console room. She briefly considered trying to open the Heart of the TARDIS again but she knew she couldn’t. Who knew what would happen if she tried it again? 

But she couldn’t just sit there! The Doctor and Martha were counting on her. Probably. The Doctor might already be working on a way to get them back but Rose couldn’t rely on that. She had to do something.

Making up her mind, Rose poked her head out of the TARDIS door, quickly surveying the area. There was no sign of the Angel.

The sound of a truck reversing caught Rose’s attention and she walked closer to the road and peered through the overgrown bushes. A tow truck was backing up to a car parked just on the other side of the fence. Two policemen stood beside it.

‘How many is that now?’ asked one.

‘Dunno,’ shrugged the other. ‘You’d have to ask Billy. He’s the expert on everything Wester Drumlins.’

‘It’s weird though, isn’t it? All these people going missing from this place…’

He looked over his shoulder at the house and Rose ducked. It seemed like the police were investigating disappearances, one of which seemed to have happened quite recently, maybe even while Rose slept, and it was probably best not to get herself involved. She doubted the police could help her get the Doctor and Martha back. And even if they could, her hiding in the bushes at the scene of a (potential) crime would be tricky to explain.

For a terrifying moment, Rose thought the policeman had seen her, but he just looked straight over her head. ‘Huh,’ he said. ‘I don’t remember seeing that last time.’

He pointed to something behind her and Rose turned around, expecting to see an Angel right behind her but there was nothing there. Just the TARDIS. The two policemen entered the yard and walked up to it, looking it over with curiosity. 

‘How did it get here?’ asked one.

‘Beats me,’ said the other, ‘but I’m calling it in.’ 

He pulled out his radio and told whoever was on the other end to send over a bigger truck. ‘We’ve got something special for Billy this time,’ he said.

Half an hour later, Rose watched as the TARDIS was loaded up onto the back of a truck and taken away to the police station.

Rose cursed under her breath. What was she supposed to do now? Even if by some miracle she found out where – or rather, when – the Doctor and Martha were, she would still need the TARDIS. Giving the house one last look, she slipped out through the gates and down the street.

It was getting dark and Rose didn’t fancy walking the streets all night looking for the right police station. She needed somewhere to stay the night. She briefly considered going back to her flat but quickly dismissed it as a bad idea. It would be too hard to say goodbye again.

She rummaged through her jacket pockets and found her bankcard. If this was 2007, then it was still valid and her account still active. She doubted she had much money left in there but surely she would have enough for a place to stay for a few nights. 

She rounded a corner and set course for her new destination: the cheapest accommodation she could find.

\----

It turned out that Rose had had enough money for a week stay at dingy little hotel. The room was small and the bed hard… but it was better than sleeping on a park bench. 

She knew she could always just call Shareen and ask to stay with her, but she didn’t really feel like fending off a million questions that she didn’t know the answer to. Questions like: _Where is that man of yours? How come you’re not dating yet? Oh, and where the bloody hell have you been for the last couple of months while we all thought you had died in that battle at Canary Wharf?_

For what felt like the hundredth time, Rose dialled Martha’s number. And for what felt like the hundredth time, it rang out. 

Rose sighed and put the phone down on the nightstand. She reached into the small cupboard below and pulled out the phonebook that the hotel had provided. She flicked through the pages until she found what she was looking for; a police station. She picked her phone back up and dialled the number. It was only a couple of rings before a gruff voice was saying that yes, Rose had called the correct number, and what could they do to help?

‘Hello,’ said Rose, crossing her fingers that this plan would work. ‘Could I please speak to one of your officers, it’s about Wester Drumlins. I believe the policeman I spoke to before was called Billy.’

‘Sorry Miss, Billy isn’t in tonight. Is it urgent? Would you like me to leave him a message?’

‘No, no, it’s not urgent. When will he be in next?’

‘He’s in tomorrow.’

‘Great, I’ll call back then. Thank you.’

Rose hung up the phone and suppressed a squeal of delight. At least she had found the TARDIS again. And possibly someone to help her with the Angels. If this Billy was the “expert on everything Wester Drumlins” maybe he knew something that could help Rose get the Doctor back. If nothing else, he was her only chance of getting the TARDIS back. She couldn’t exactly break into the police station unnoticed. Not without a sonic screwdriver or psychic paper anyway.

Rose lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling. It was only a few hours, she told herself. 

She turned her head to face the loud, obnoxious clock on the wall. It showed that it was ten minutes to eleven but Rose wasn’t entirely confident in it’s accuracy. The clock on her phone was useless, of course. Travelling in time had many perks but an accurate watch was not one of them. Even the Doctor’s had trouble keeping up. 

The delight that she had felt a minute ago had turned into frustration. She couldn’t just lay here doing nothing!

Letting out a huff, she got back up and grabbed her hotel key. She was going to go back to Wester Drumlins. Maybe now that she knew what these Angels were, she could reason with them. She had to at least try.

\----

It was raining lightly when she got to Wester Drumlins and Rose suppressed a shiver as she climbed over the now shut gate. 

She began to walk up to the house but stopped when she noticed muddy footprints on the path. Someone else had been here, quite recently probably, seeing as the footprints had yet to be washed away from the rain. Rose set off again towards the house, quickening her pace. If whoever left those footprints were still here, they needed to be warned. 

She was just about to walk up to the door when she noticed a flashing light coming from inside one of the rooms. She walked up to a window that wasn’t boarded up and peered inside. A woman was standing at the far wall, staring intently at it. A camera hung from her neck, which explained the flashing, at least. But what was so fascinating about the wall beneath the wallpaper that the woman was now peeling off?

Rose nervously turned around to look across the garden for any sign of the Angels. Maybe she would get lucky and it had left? 

Yeah right! 

Through the darkness and the light rain, Rose could just about make out the shape of a statue halfway across the garden. She kept her eyes on it as she decided what to do. There was no way she could get into the house before the Angel got to either her or the woman. She could shout out a warning but she doubted the woman would believe her. She would probably bolt… right into the path of the Angel.

She could stare at the Angel until the woman left, but who knew how long that would be and the light rain dripping on her face was making it extremely difficult not to blink. Rose wasn’t sure if she could do it.

It seemed very unlikely that she was getting back to her hotel room tonight.

If it had been just her in danger, she would’ve walked up to the Angel and tried to talk to it - try to understand it - but she couldn’t risk it going wrong and leaving the other woman vulnerable.

Glancing down for a moment, Rose noticed a pot plant in front of her on the ground. Light enough to throw but heavy enough to break a window. Perfect.

She had only looked down at it for a second, but when she looked back up the Angel was now only a few meters away.

Making sure not to take her eyes off of the Angel, she slowly bent down and picked up the plant. Bracing herself, she spun around and threw the pot plant through the window, aiming for the wall next to the woman. 

Just as she threw the plant, Rose felt a tug at the chain around her neck – the one with the TARDIS key on it – and then a winding sensation overcame her, like the one you got from those rides at the fair where your stomach feels like it is going through your chest. 

She collapsed onto the pebbled ground with a painful thud. 

Rose opened her eyes and saw, not the moonlit garden she had been stood in front of a second ago, but a dirty London alley. Late morning sunlight blinded her as she tried to get up.

‘Rose,’ called a voice as two strong hands helped lift her to her feet. ‘Are you all right?’ 

‘Doctor?’ asked Rose, trying to focus. ‘I feel woozy.’ 

‘Time travel without a capsule, it’s not pleasant.’ 

Eventually, Rose’s vision refocussed and she could think again. The Doctor smiled down at her encouragingly. When she could stand without leaning, he let go of her waist and bent down to pick up some device he had obviously been carrying when he found her. 

Now she could think properly, she remembered what had happened at Wester Drumlins. ‘There was this woman in the house,’ she said. ‘I threw something to catch her attention but I think the Angel got me mid-throw and my aim was a bit off. I hope I didn’t hit her.’ 

‘Don’t worry, you didn’t. Sally’s fine.’

‘Sally?’

The Doctor was just about to say something when Martha came running down the alley. ‘Rose! You all right?'

Rose smiled at her and nodded. ‘Just a bit dizzy.’

‘Tell me about it,’ said Martha. ‘I almost threw up when I got sent back.’

‘So when are we?’ asked Rose. ‘How far back did the Weeping Angel send us?’

‘1969,’ said Martha.

‘1969? Again!’

Martha nodded. ‘Afraid so.’

The Doctor was smiling at Rose proudly. ‘What?’ she asked.

‘You figured out what the Angels were.’

‘Well, the TARDIS library did help… a bit. I didn’t find out enough, though. I’m sorry I couldn’t get to you. Now we’re all stuck here.’

‘Oh, don’t worry, I have a plan,’ said the Doctor. Rose went to ask exactly what that plan was but he held up a hand to stop her. ‘I’ll explain when we get back to the flat.’

‘You have a flat?' asked Rose in surprise. 'How long have you guys been here?’

‘About a month.’

‘A month! It was only a day for me.’

‘Well, you get that,’ said the Doctor as if it explained everything. ‘Come on.’ He started to walk down the alley but stopped mid-step and turned back to Rose. ‘Oh, I almost forgot something.’

‘What?’

He picked Rose up in a tight hug and spun her around. ‘Good to see you,’ he said as he put her back down.

Rose smiled back up at him and, for a moment, it felt like nothing had changed between them. ‘You too. So where’s this flat, then?'

\----

The flat in question was a small two-bedroom unit. ‘You can have my room,’ said the Doctor as they sat down at the cluttered dining table. Random bits and bobs were spread over half the surface. The Doctor added his device (his timey-wimey detector, as he called it) to the mess. ‘I don’t use it much anyway. I’ll just kip on the couch.’

‘You sure?’ asked Rose and the Doctor nodded. She turned to Martha. ‘I tried to call you.'

‘I left my phone in my room,’ said Martha, apologetically.

‘You may have a few missed calls when we get back.’

‘I bet,’ said Martha.

‘So, what’s all this, then?’ asked Rose, indicating the mess on the table.

‘Stuff left over from making this thing.’ The Doctor picked up his timey-wimey detector and gave it a little shake. ‘Still trying to get the kinks out but it works good enough.'

‘Well, it found me all right.’

‘At least we know it works now,' said Martha. 'We don’t want to miss Billy.’ 

‘Billy?’ asked Rose. ‘As in policeman Billy? Expert on Wester Drumlins?’

‘Well,’ said the Doctor, drawing out the word. ‘I don’t know if I would say _expert_ , but it sounds like the same bloke. Did you meet him?’

‘No. I was going to but I kind of got side tracked. Hang on… how do you know about Billy? And that woman in the house, you called her Sally.’

The Doctor grabbed a folder out of a drawer and handed it to Rose. As she flicked through it, he explained how he had met a woman named Sally Sparrow a few months back when they were dealing with the Axrians. She had given him the folder and told him that one day he would get stuck in 1969 and would need it.

‘Didn’t pay much attention to it at the time,’ he said. ‘We were a bit busy and it didn’t seem to be that important.’

‘You forgot all about it didn’t you?’

‘Yeah, kinda,’ admitted the Doctor, scratching his chin awkwardly.

Rose would have laughed at that but she had found something tucked away in a file that distracted her. ‘My key!’ she cried as she took the chain out and dangled it out in front of her. ‘Sally must have taken it from the Angel.’ She breathed a sigh of relief. The Angels may have the TARDIS, but at least they couldn’t get in. 

She refocused her attention on the task ahead of them. ‘So, basically, we have to wait for Billy to show up so that he can hide a message in a bunch of DVDs that will eventually make it to Sally?’ she summarised.

‘Yup,’ said the Doctor, popping the p at the end. ‘But, don’t worry; there’s lots to do in the meantime. I’ve got to set up a camcorder to record the message for Sally, and Martha has a job at a shop.’

‘Speaking of,’ said Martha, getting up and grabbing a handbag. ‘I had better get going. I have the afternoon shift.’ She made to leave but turned back around just as she got to the door. ‘One of the other girls who works there is leaving. I could try and get you a job if you want, Rose. We could use the extra money. The psychic paper can only get us so far.’

Rose smiled at Martha. ‘That would be great, thanks.’

‘No problem, said Martha before turning and rushing out the door, not wanting to be late.

Once Martha had left, Rose let her smile fall. ‘Looks like I’m back to being a shop-girl,’ she said, more to herself than anything.

‘It’s only temporary,’ said the Doctor.

\----

Martha had got her that job at the shop and Rose’s first week of being stuck in 1969 seemed to fly by. 

Her and Martha worked alternating shifts at the shop and the Doctor went on regular walks (usually with either Martha or Rose) to look for any signs of time fluctuations. Now that he was happy enough with his “timey-wimey” detector, he had gotten rid of all the junk that had littered the dining table and replaced it with other junk for the camcorder.

Rose breathed a sigh of relief as she unlocked the front door to the flat. It had been flat out at the shop and she couldn’t wait to take off her uncomfortable shoes and have a nice cuppa.

‘I’m still not sure if I believe this,’ said an unfamiliar voice from the kitchen. Rose walked in to see the Doctor and Martha talking to an attractive black man in a black jacket. ‘You’re seriously telling me that a statue sent me back in time forty years?’

‘Rose!’ said the Doctor, happy for the interruption. ‘Meet Billy Shipton.’

‘Nice to met you Billy,’ said Rose. ‘Heard a lot about you.’

‘How many more of you are there?’ asked Billy.

‘Just us,’ said the Doctor.

Billy sat down and put his head in his hands. Martha rubbed his shoulder comfortingly. ‘It will get better,' she promised. 'It just takes a bit of getting used to, that’s all.’

‘Martha’s right,’ said the Doctor. ‘All you need is good night’s sleep.’ 

Rose somehow doubted that one night’s sleep would change Billy’s outlook on the situation. From what she had read, he would have a good life but he would not get to see his family or friends ever again. Rose knew what that felt like. At least she had chosen her fate; the same could not be said for Billy.

‘You can have my room,’ she told the man. ‘You’ll need it more than me.’

‘You can have the couch, then,’ said the Doctor and Rose nodded. She doubted that any attempt at refusing the offer would be successful. ‘Right, that’s settled then. One step closer to getting home.’ He grinned at the three of them. 

Rose and Martha gave small smiles in return. Rose knew that the Doctor was missing the TARDIS terribly... she just wasn’t sure if they should be celebrating while poor Billy’s life was falling apart. 

She excused herself and collected her things from her room so she could move them to the living room. Only once she was alone did she let herself smile properly. Not much longer and they would be going home.


	29. Blink Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has an allusion to the novel, The Stone Rose. I'm not likely to reference the books very often, mainly because I haven't read many of them, so the canonicity is going to be a bit hit and miss.

The Doctor was not having a great few months. First there was that business with the Family in 1913, and then he was stuck in 1969 with no TARDIS and, for one month at least, no Rose. 

And now he was messing around with a primitive autocue device that just didn’t want to stay together. 

The Doctor took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes in frustration. It had been a long few weeks. When he had first been sent to 1969, he had wandered around for hours, waiting to see if the others would get sent back as well. It had only been an hour and a half before he had found Martha walking down the street, looking confused. It had been another three hours before she convinced him that they couldn’t wait for Rose, they had to work out how to get back to her and the TARDIS.

That’s when he had remembered the folder.

The folder that Sally Sparrow had given him had been sitting in his bigger-on-the-inside pockets since she had given it to him. He and Martha had sat on a park bench and had read the documents within and the Doctor’s mood had brightened a little. He had been given a plan – something to work towards. He just had to put up with being stuck on Earth in the 20th centaury for a little while. Nothing he hadn't done before.

Oh well, there were worse years to be stuck in, he supposed. 1913 came instantly to mind.

The Doctor sighed. His relationship with Rose hadn’t been the same since. How could it be? He had tried his best to avoid being alone with her, not wanting to discuss what had happened between them, but regretted it as soon as he had found himself without her.

It had been a long month.

For most of it, he had kept himself busy, though. It had taken a few weeks to get his “timey-wimey” detector to work, and then another week to get the kinks out of it. Well, most of them. It did tend to double as an egg boiler, but as long as they stayed away from chickens, it would do.

The Doctor was grateful for Martha. He didn’t know how he would have coped if it hadn’t been for her company and her kindness. But even her positive attitude had started to wane over the weeks. She was still as patient and as hardworking as ever, but he could see it in her eyes that she was missing her old life. It wasn’t until Rose had shown up, and then Billy soon after, that Martha had gotten her drive back. Being able to see an end to their sentence had reignited a spark in both of them. Now they could do more than just wait.

‘Can’t you get it to work?’ asked a voice from the couch, interrupting his thoughts.

The Doctor looked up from the troublesome autocue to see Rose sitting up to face him properly. ‘You should get some sleep,’ he said. ‘I should have this thing ready by morning and then it won’t be long until we're out of here. We’ll be back to seeing the wonders of time and space and running for our lives before you know it.’

Rose gave him a small smile. ‘Good. I don’t know if I can handle dealing with customers much longer. At least when I was a Librarian, I only had to deal with a few spoilt brats and I could give them a talking to if they annoyed me.’

The Doctor chuckled. ‘You did, too. I remember that day Hutchinson came into class…’ 

He trailed off into silence, his smile falling. That memory didn’t belong to him. It belonged to John Smith.

He sensed that the conversation he had been dreading was about to catch up with him. It was due time, he supposed. He had been avoiding it for far too long and Rose deserved an apology at the very least. 

‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘About John. About all of it. I never intended to put you in that situation.’

‘I know you didn’t,’ said Rose.

There were a couple of minutes of awkward silence before Rose spoke again. ‘How much of being John do you remember?’

The Doctor thought for a moment before answering. ‘Enough,’ he said finally.

‘Martha told me that you were you again when you walked out of the cottage… when did you open the watch?’ 

Shit. He was hoping she wouldn’t mention that.

‘Doesn’t matter,’ he said, turning back to the device on the table. 

‘But it does,’ said Rose, obviously not willing to give in this time. ‘Please, Doctor.’

He looked back into her pleading eyes. He could never say no to those eyes. He nervously fiddled with a piece of wire that was lying on the table. 

‘When I came back, I was… that is, we were…’

He trailed off again. He couldn’t quite bring himself to say it. 

But, as always, Rose understood. ‘It was when John kissed me wasn’t it? That’s when he opened the watch.’ 

The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly with the hand that wasn’t fiddling with the wire. ‘Yeah.’ 

He could tell by her face that Rose was remembering the kiss. How it had changed in the middle and had become so much more desperate. Now she knew that that had been him. 

‘So… you heard what I said?’ she asked, her voice now revealing her own nerves. The Doctor nodded and silence fell over them once more.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said again after a few moments. ‘It was cruel, showing you what you could have had if circumstance were different.’ 

Rose looked at him in confusion. ‘What I could have had?’ 

‘A normal life with a normal man.’ 

‘I don’t want a normal life,’ she said defiantly. ‘I love the life I have. Travelling among the stars with you… it’s never not going to be what I want. And as for wanting a normal man…’ 

‘I can’t give you the life John could,’ said the Doctor. All pretence had been abandoned now. 

‘I just told you I didn’t want-’ 

‘I can’t give you what you and John _had_. We can’t…’ 

The Doctor sighed in frustration. He was terrible at this sort of thing. 

Rose took a moment before replying, nervously fiddling with a loose strand of hair. ‘Why not?’ she asked.

_Because I don’t deserve you._

_Because I ruined your life._

_Because one day you’ll realise that and you’ll leave me. And it would break both my hearts._

The Doctor looked back down at the table. ‘I don’t want anything to change between us,’ he said, hoping that that would be enough.

He risked a glance back up at Rose. She was nodding in understanding but he could see the sadness in her eyes. ‘Right, of course,’ she said. ‘You’re my best mate… I don’t want that to change.’

The Doctor wanted to comfort her - to reassure her (he wasn’t sure how, he just knew he had to say _something_ ) - but she didn’t give him the chance.

‘I’m actually a bit tired,' she said. 'I think I’ll try and get back to sleep.’

She laid back down on the couch and turned to face away from him.

\----

Rose had woken up that morning to an empty flat. A note on the fridge told her that Martha was at work and the Doctor had taken Billy to a publishing firm to get him a job.

After a couple of days, Billy had grudgingly accepted his new life. He was a little disappointed to be out of the Police Force… but he had approached the publishing suggestion with surprising interest. 

Rose felt a little less guilty knowing that Billy would be pursuing that career for himself rather than just to help them return home when he could not.

She poured her cereal and sat at the slightly less cluttered dining table. The Doctor seemed to have fixed the autocue and now everything was ready for him to film his message. Rose supposed he would do it later in the day, probably while she was at work.

She idly stirred the cereal with her spoon. She didn’t quite know what to make of her and the Doctor’s relationship anymore. They were still friends, of course, nothing was going to change that... but after their conversation last night, Rose was unsure of the Doctor’s true feelings towards her. He had said that he didn’t want things to change between them and Rose would have thought that that was his way of letting her down gently if it hadn’t been for the look in his eyes when he had looked back at her. She had seen a vulnerability in them that she did not usually associate with the Doctor - at least, not in this regeneration. 

And then there was that kiss in 1913. 

At the time Rose had thought it was John that had deepened the kiss, but now she knew that that was not the case. The Doctor had kissed her that way and she couldn’t help but wonder why. Was it just a kiss of celebration of being back, like the one they had shared in Rome? Rose doubted it. The kiss in Rome had been very chaste. This one, however, had been quite heated and full of emotion.

So if the Doctor did have some sort of feelings for her that went beyond friendship, and he knew that she shared those feelings… why was he holding back?

Rose felt like banging her head against something in frustration. She wasn’t sure if this was one step forward or three steps back. In the end, she figured, it didn’t matter. The Doctor was, first and foremost, her friend. And if he didn’t want anything to change between them, for whatever reason, Rose was going to respect his decision. As Sarah Jane had once said, some things were worth getting your heart broken for.

Rose finished her cereal and got ready for what she hoped would be one of her last days working in a shop.

\----

Billy had gotten the job at the publishing firm and the Doctor was more than ready to give him the emergency code that would bring the TARDIS straight to them. He had wanted to do it as soon as he had made the recording for Sally but Martha had said that they couldn’t just abandon Billy and, deep down, the Doctor knew she was right.

So they had waited another couple of days until Billy was ready to brave 1969 on his own (although, according to Sally’s folder, he wouldn’t be alone for too much longer).

‘Embed this code into the video file for the DVD’s,’ the Doctor told Billy as he handed him a folded piece of paper and the tape with the oh-so-important recording on it. ‘And good luck, Billy Shipton.’

Billy took the items with a little hesitation. ‘Thanks. I’m going to need it.’

‘You’ll be great,’ said Rose, smiling at him.

‘She’s right,’ said Martha. ‘Really. You’ve handled the whole being stuck in the past thing better than I ever did.’

Billy shrugged and smiled. ‘Life is short and…’ He trailed off and his smile slowly fell. ‘Are you sure I can’t see her again?’ he asked the Doctor.

It seemed that Sally Sparrow left a mark on people, a bit like another certain blonde the Doctor could think of. 

Thinking about Rose had been increasingly dangerous over the past few days. Every time he saw her, she smiled at him, just as she always had done, but the Doctor could see the hurt and rejection in her eyes. She was just trying to make things go back to the way they were for him, and that small act of selflessness almost made the Doctor break his resolve about not pursuing a relationship with her. Almost.

He quickly refocused his attention on Billy. ‘You can’t,’ he said apologetically. ‘It could cause a paradox that would blow a hole in the fabric of time and space. It could destroy two thirds of the universe. I’m sorry.’

‘At least I will get to see her when I deliver the message,’ said Billy. ‘All I have to tell her is to look at the list, right?’

The Doctor nodded, not trusting his voice. He hadn’t told Billy about how his next conversation with Sally Sparrow would be the last conversation he would ever have.

Billy seemed to be able to read his expression though. ‘What aren’t you telling me?’ he asked, his voice displaying the authority of the policeman he had been.

The Doctor thought about lying, but one look from Rose told him that that was not an option. Billy deserved to know the truth.

‘You’ll be an old man when you see her next,’ he said.

‘I know.'

‘An old, _sick_ man. I’m sorry, Billy, but the day you give Sally the message will be the same day you met her, the day you die. You will only have until the rain stops.’

Billy took a moment to digest the information before he put the tape and TARDIS emergency code in his pocket. ‘So, when will your police box turn up then?’ he said, obviously not wanting to discuss his death further.

‘Any minute now,’ said the Doctor. ‘When I got the flat, I put it under the name Billy Shipton, so stay as long as you like.’

Billy nodded his thanks. He opened his mouth to say something but stopped when a loud groaning sound started to fill the flat – the most glorious sound in the universe – the TARDIS. The Doctor couldn’t help but beam as his ship materialised in the centre of the flat. Rose and Martha wore similar expressions, whilst Billy wore one of gleeful disbelief.

‘That’s amazing!’ he said.

‘She certainly is,’ agreed the Doctor as he rushed forward to his beloved ship and unlocked the doors. He bounded up the ramp and slowly walked around the console, admiring every dial and every button that he had taken for granted.

Once he was certain that the Angels had not damaged the TARDIS in any way, he made his way back to the doorway and stuck his head out.

‘Ready to go?’ he asked Rose and Martha. They both nodded eagerly.

Rose was the first to bid Billy a goodbye. She wrapped her arms around his neck for a quick hug as she thanked him for everything and then walked past the Doctor and into the TARDIS. Martha gave Billy a kiss on the cheek before she too followed.

Once the girls were both at the console, each looking at it in much the same way that he had done, the Doctor turned back to Billy.

‘Well, this goodbye, Bill,’ he said. ‘Thanks. For everything.’ 

He stuck out his hand and Billy shook it. ‘Anytime, just don’t ever call me Bill again.’

The Doctor chuckled and made to retreat back to the TARDIS but turned back around to face the man who would dedicate his life to help a group of strangers.

‘And don’t worry too much,’ he said. ‘You’re going to have a fantastic life.’

\----

The Doctor sent them into the vortex with even more enthusiasm than usual, and that was saying something. Martha smiled at the central column as it rose up and down. It truly was a beautiful sight, she realised.

She was beyond glad to leave 1969 and she knew that the Doctor and Rose felt the same. They had been acting even more oddly around each other the last few days. They had tried to hide it but Martha had seen right through them, she had just been too tired to tell them that their attempts at pretending that they were both okay hadn’t been working very well. She hoped that now that they were back to their adventurous life and not stuck in one place, they would start to work things out.

‘So, I suppose you’d want to finally get to that dinner with your mum?’ said the Doctor. His tone was light but Martha could tell that he was not exactly relishing the thought.

‘Actually,’ said Martha. ‘I was thinking we could postpone it a tad longer. I think we’ve all been stuck on Earth too long. How about we go see another planet?’

The Doctor turned to face her, a big grin on his face, and, before she knew it, he had lifted her into a tight hug. ‘A brilliant suggestion,’ he said as he sat her back down and rushed back to the console. ‘We just have to refuel the TARDIS, the emergency materialisiation really drained her.’

‘The TARDIS needs a top-up?’ asked Martha in surprise. ‘How do you fuel up a time machine? I mean, what does it run on?’

‘Rift energy,’ answered Rose.

‘Well, it’s a little more complicated than that, but yeah, that’ll do,’ said the Doctor, setting the coordinates.

‘So we’re making a pit stop?’

The Doctor chuckled and started bounding around the console again. ‘Pit stop, I like that. So, just a quick pit stop in Cardiff and then next stop: anywhere.’

Martha beamed. ‘Sounds great… hold on. Did you say Cardiff?’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, the Doctor will stop being a cowardly idiot soon. Just one more hurdle to overcome.
> 
> I'm not sure how long the wait will be for the next chapter. The next three episodes are quite big in terms of plot importance and I'm not sure if I'm going to wait until I've written them all and post it all in one go or systematically post it chapter by chapter.


	30. Utopia Part One

The TARDIS made its usual wheezing noise as it landed in Roald Dahl Plass. ‘Cardiff?’ asked Martha for the third time in as many minutes.

The Doctor nodded as he circled the console, pushing buttons as he went. ‘Cardiff.’ 

‘But Cardiff?’ 

‘Ah, but the thing about Cardiff, it's built on a rift in time and space, just like California and the San Andreas Fault.’

‘Back in the 1800’s, the rift was opened by these creatures called the Gelth,’ explained Rose, ‘but a servant girl named Gwenyth closed it.’

‘But that sort of thing leaves a wound,’ said the Doctor. ‘And now the rift bleeds energy. Every now and then I need to open up the TARDIS engines, soak up the energy and use it as fuel.’ He looked curiously at the readouts on the console screen. ‘Should only take twenty seconds. The rift's been active.’ 

‘Wait a minute,’ said Martha. ‘They had an earthquake in Cardiff a couple of years ago. Was that you?’ 

‘Bit of trouble with the Slitheen. A long time ago. Lifetimes. I was a different man back then.’

Martha looked to Rose for an explanation. ‘That was before he regenerated,’ she said and Martha nodded her understanding. They had told her about that particular Time Lord quirk after the Doctor had almost been taken over by a living sun a few months back.

‘Finito,’ said the Doctor, pushing a button and placing a hand on the lever that would send them on their way. ‘All powered up.’ His expression changed when he looked at the console screen. He looked worried. Before Rose could ask what was wrong, he had pulled down the lever and the TARDIS left Cardiff. 

A couple of seconds later, something on the console exploded and the TARDIS began to shake violently.

‘Whoa! What's that?’ asked Martha. 

‘We're accelerating into the future,’ said the Doctor, trying to keep his balance as the TARDIS continued to shake. Now he definitely did look worried. ‘The year one billion. Five billion. Five trillion. Fifty trillion? What? The year one hundred trillion? That's impossible.’ 

‘Why? What happens then?’ 

‘We're going to the end of the universe.’

A minute later, the TARDIS stilled and the central column came to a stop.

‘Well, we've landed,’ said the Doctor.

‘Where are we?’ asked Rose. 

‘What's out there?’ asked Martha.

‘I don't know,' said the Doctor, answering both questions. 

‘Say that again. That's rare.’ 

‘Not even the Time Lords came this far,’ said the Doctor, his expression serious. ‘We should leave. We should go. We should really, really… go.’ He glanced at Martha and Rose and then grinned. 

Rose and Martha smiled back and the three of them ran for the door, eager to explore wherever they had landed.

Which, on first impression, didn’t seem to be much. The landscape outside the TARDIS was dark and baron. Nothing but sand, rocks and shrubbery as far as the eye could see, except… 

‘Oh my God!’ said Martha as she ran knelt ran over to the unconscious man on the ground. He was wearing a World War II greatcoat that Rose would recognise anywhere.

‘Doctor, it’s Jack!’ she said as she knelt down beside her friend. ‘What’s he doing here?’ 

Martha had her fingers to Jack’s neck. ‘Can't get a pulse,’ she said. ‘Hold on, you know him?’

Rose nodded as Martha leant down to listen to his heart. ‘He travelled with us for a while but he left to help rebuild the Earth after a Dalek attack.’ She turned to the Doctor. ‘How did he get here?’ 

‘I think he came with us,’ he said. He was wearing a peculiar expression that Rose couldn’t quite place. But one thing was for certain; the Doctor was not as surprised as he should have been.

‘How do you mean?’ asked Martha. ‘From Earth?’ 

‘Must have been clinging to the outside of the TARDIS all the way through the vortex. Well, that's very him.’

‘But what was he doing in the 21st century?’ asked Rose. None of this was making any sense. 

Martha sat back up, a sad look on her face. ‘I'm sorry; there's no heartbeat,’ she said. ‘There's nothing. He's dead.’

Just as the words had left her mouth, Jack let out a gasp and grabbed Martha’s arm, earning a scream from both women. 

‘Oh, so much for me,’ said Martha before grabbing Jack’s shoulder’s to try and settle him. ‘It's all right. Just breathe deep. I've got you.’ 

It didn’t take Jack long to recover. He looked appreciatively at Martha. ‘Captain Jack Harkness,’ he said. ‘And who are you?’ 

‘Martha Jones.’ 

‘Nice to meet you, Martha Jones.’

‘Oh, don't start,’ said the Doctor. 

‘I was only saying hello,’ said Jack.

Despite her confusion about the current situation, Rose laughed. ‘Good to see you haven’t changed,’ she said, smiling down at him. Her heart sank when Jack didn’t return her smile. He barely even looked at her.

Maybe he had changed after all. 

With a little help from Martha, Jack got to his feet and faced the Doctor. ‘Doctor,’ he said, in way of greeting. His tone was very formal and his expression shielded. Something was definitely wrong.

‘Captain,’ said the Doctor in much the same way. 

Rose slowly got to her feet and Jack finally turned to face her. ‘Good to see you both,’ he said but it didn’t sound like he particularly meant it. 

‘You too,’ said Rose. ‘Only you would try and hitch a ride on the outside of the TARDIS,’ she added, trying to keep the mood light. 

‘Yeah, well. I wasn’t going to let you get away that easily.’

With a sudden realisation, Rose knew what the Doctor had seen on the scanner in Cardiff, what had made him look so worried. It was Jack! He had seen Jack coming towards them and had sent them away as quickly as he could. But _why?_

Jack turned back to the Doctor. ‘I've been following you for a long time,’ he said. ‘You abandoned me.'

Rose had not been expecting that. ‘What?’ she exclaimed in shock. ‘Doctor, what’s he talking about? You said he stayed behind to look after the Earth.’

Jack looked between Rose and the Doctor. ‘You didn’t tell her, did you?’ he directed at the Doctor.

The Doctor looked away guiltily. ‘Busy life,’ he said. ‘Moving on.’

Rose wasn’t sure which emotion she should be feeling. Betrayal? Anger? Guilt? In the end, she landed on a combination of all of them. 

‘I can’t believe you,’ she said to the Doctor. ‘You just left him on that Satellite alone!’

‘I was bit busy at the time,’ said the Doctor, defensively. ‘You know, _dying_ , and all that.’

Rose wasn’t listening. ‘And then you lied to me about it! All this time you had me believing that Jack left of his own free will, but no, you just abandoned him. Like you did with Sarah!’

‘I’m not sure I understand,’ said Martha.

‘You’re not the only one,’ muttered Rose before turning to Jack. ‘I’m so sorry, Jack,’ she said. ‘I didn’t know.’

‘It’s okay, Rosie,’ he said, softly. ‘Somehow, I’m not surprised.’ He reached down and wiped away a tear that was threatening to roll down her cheek.

The Doctor cleared his throat awkwardly. ‘Anyway,’ he said. ‘Let’s go find out where we are, shall we?’ He turned around and started walking away and Rose could have sworn that she saw Jack try to suppress a smug smile.

They followed the Doctor through the wasteland as Jack told Martha the story of what happened on Satellite 5. Well, the CliffNotes version of it, anyway.

‘So there I was, stranded in the year two hundred one hundred, ankle deep in Dalek dust, and he goes off without me. But I had this.’ He tapped the device on his wrist. ‘I used to be a Time Agent. It's called a vortex manipulator. He's not the only one who can time travel.’

The Doctor was walking a little ahead of them but slowed down a little at Jack’s remark. ‘Oh, excuse me,’ he said, briefly turning to face them. ‘That is not time travel. It's like, I've got a sports car and you've got a space hopper.’

Rose glanced at Martha and rolled her eyes. 

‘Boys and their toys,’ chuckled Martha. 

Jack found it less amusing. ‘All right, so I bounced,’ he said, defensively. ‘I thought 21st century, the best place to find the Doctor, except that I got it a little wrong. Arrived in 1869, this thing burnt out, so it was useless.’ 

‘Told you,’ said the Doctor. 

Jack sent him a quick glare before continuing. ‘I had to live through the entire twentieth century waiting for a version of you that would coincide with me.’  
  
‘But that makes you more than one hundred years old,’ said Martha. 

‘And looking good, don't you think?’ said Jack, flirtatiously.

Rose went to ask how he had managed to stay so young but Jack had already begun continuing on his story. 

‘So I went to the time rift, based myself there because I knew you'd come back to refuel. Until finally I get a signal on this,’ he pointed to the heavy-looking backpack he was wearing, ‘detecting you and here we are.’ 

‘But the thing is, how come you left him behind, Doctor?’ asked Martha.

‘Yeah, I would like to know the answer to that myself, actually,’ added Rose. 

‘I was busy,’ said the Doctor and Rose bristled. Surely he must have a better explanation than that. 

‘Is that what happens, though?’ asked Martha. ‘Seriously? Do you just get bored with us one day and disappear?’ 

‘Not if you're blonde,’ said Jack before turning to Rose. ‘No offence.’

Rose glared at him for a second before looking down in shame. ‘It’s all right,’ she said. Jack had every right to be angry.

The Doctor seemed to have had enough though. He stopped and turned to face them. ‘Oh for Pete’s sake!’ he almost shouted. ‘We're at the end of the universe, all right? Right at the edge of knowledge itself and you're busy… blogging! Come on.’

He made his way over to a cliff face and the others tentatively followed. They looked down at the view below and saw the first sign of civilization the planet had to offer. It looked like some sort of city, brilliantly crafted into the cliffs themselves.

‘Is that a city?’ asked Martha in awe. 

‘A city or a hive,’ said the Doctor, his previous anger seemingly forgotten. ‘Or a nest, or a conglomeration. Like it was grown.’ He pointed down to the “buildings”. ‘But look, there. That's like pathways, roads? Must have been some sort of life, long ago.’ 

‘I wonder what happened to all the people,’ said Rose.

‘Time,’ said the Doctor sadly. ‘Just time. Everything's dying now. All the great civilizations have gone.’ He looked up to the sky. ‘This isn't just night. All the stars have burned up and faded away into nothing.’ 

‘They must have an atmospheric shell,’ said Jack. ‘We should be frozen to death.’ 

‘Well, us three, maybe,’ said the Doctor, indicating himself, Rose, and Martha. ‘Not so sure about you, Jack.’

Rose looked at the Doctor and Jack curiously as they stared at each other. There was something that the Doctor wasn’t telling her. Something important.  
  
‘Does no one survive?’ asked Martha, once again looking at the city. Rose recognised her expression, it was the same one she herself had worn when the Doctor had taken her to see the Earth being destroyed, the realisation that everything ends.

‘I suppose we have to hope life will find a way,’ said the Doctor. 

‘Well, he's not doing too bad,’ said Jack pointing down at the edge of the city where a man was being chased by mob of about twenty. The pursuers were shouting something. It was a bit far away for Rose to hear properly, but it didn't sound friendly. 

‘Is it me, or does that look like a hunt?’ said the Doctor. ‘Come on!’ 

The four of them ran down the hill to try and help the man. ‘Oh, I've missed this,’ said Jack. Rose didn’t look at him but she could picture the smile on his face. She couldn’t imagine Jack enjoying being stuck anywhere, especially 20th century Earth. He was a bit like the Doctor in that regard. 

After a few minutes of sprinting, they met up with running man. ‘I've got you,’ said Jack catching the man as he tried to run past. 

‘They're coming! They're coming!’ said the man. He was terrified.

Jack let the man go and pulled a gun from his pocket. He aimed it at the approaching mob. Now that Rose could see them more clearly, they looked almost human as well. They were obviously a tribe of some sort. Each had similar markings on their faces. 

‘Jack, don't you dare!’ shouted the Doctor, who was now holding the scared man.

Jack looked uncertainly between the Doctor and the tribe before pointing his gun at the sky and letting off a few shots.

Rose wasn’t sure if it was the sound of the gunfire or the realisation of what it meant, but the angry tribe stopped and backed up a little. 

‘What the hell are they?’ asked Martha. 

‘There's more of them,’ said the man. ‘We've got to keep going.’ 

‘I've got a ship nearby,’ said the Doctor. ‘It's safe. It's not far, it's over there.’

Just as they turned to go back the way they had came, another mob appeared on the cliff, blocking their path.  
  
‘Or maybe not.’ 

‘We're close to the silo,’ said the man. ‘If we get to the silo, then we're safe.’

The Doctor looked between Rose, Martha, and Jack. ‘Silo?’ he asked.

Jack nodded. ‘Silo.’ 

‘Silo for me,’ said Martha.

‘No arguments here,’ added Rose. She turned to the newest member of their group. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Padra.’

‘Right then, Padra. Lead the way.’ Without another word, Padra nodded and ran down a narrow pathway. 

It wasn’t long until they approached a set of metal gates. ‘It's the Futurekind!’ shouted Padra as they approached the guards. ‘Open the gate!’ 

‘Show me your teeth! Show me your teeth! Show me your teeth!’ shouted the guard, shining a torch on their faces. 

‘Show him your teeth,’ repeated Padra, needlessly.

Not having time to ask questions why, they all bared their teeth to the guards. 

‘Human! Let them in! Let them in!’

The guards opened the gates and the four of them rushed inside.

‘Close! Close! Close!’

One of the guards fired a round of bullets at the ground in front of the advancing mob – the Futurekind – to stop them from getting too close.

‘Humans,’ said the one who seemed to be the chief of the tribe. ‘Humani. Make feast.’ 

‘Go back to where you came from,’ said the guard, pointing his weapon at the chief. ‘I said, go back. Back!’ 

‘Oh, don't tell him to put his gun down,’ muttered Jack to the Doctor.

‘He's not my responsibility.’ 

‘And I am? That makes a change.’ 

The chief of the Futurekind was still pacing in front of the gates. ‘Kind watch you. Kind hungry.’ 

Reluctantly, he ushered the tribe to fall back and they left, probably to search for a different meal. 

‘Thanks for that,’ said the Doctor to the guards. 

The guard nodded his acknowledgement. ‘Right. Let's get you inside.’ 

Padra quickened his pace so he could walk side-by-side with the guard. ‘My name is Padra Toc Shafe Cane. Tell me. Just tell me, can you take me to Utopia?’

The guard gave a small smile. ‘Oh yes, sir. Yes, I can.’

\----

Rose felt a little sorry for the man showing them through the silo. The Doctor was trying his best to describe the TARDIS and its importance while Padra still desperately asked about any information on his family.

‘The computers are down,’ said the man, ‘but you can check the paperwork. Creet! Passenger needs help.’

A young boy with blonde hair trotted up to them, carrying a clipboard. ‘Right. What do you need?’ he asked and Padra rushed over to him to explain his situation.

‘A blue box, you said,’ said the man who Rose had come to think of as their guide. 

The Doctor nodded. ‘Big, tall, wooden. Says Police.’ 

‘We're driving out for the last water collection. I'll see what I can do.’ 

‘Thank you.’ 

Padra had finished talking to Creet and was now eager to search for his family. ‘Come on,’ said the boy, leading them around a corner. 

‘Sorry, but how old are you?’ asked Martha. 

‘Old enough to work,’ said Creet, defiantly. ‘This way.’

They followed him along another corridor. This one was lined with people. Some slept on the floor as others walked casually up and down the narrow walkway. Pictures of families hung on the walls; small beacons of hope and unity in an otherwise desolate lifestyle. Rose wasn’t sure if she feel sorry for these people or proud of them.

Creet was calling out the name of Padra’s family, hoping to receive an answer. Padra was close behind him, asking any passersby if they knew the Shafe Cane family.

‘It's like a refugee camp,’ said Martha. 

‘ _Stinking_ ,’ said Jack before turning to a man who had looked over at his comment. ‘Oh, sorry. No offence. Not you.’ 

‘Don't you see that?’ asked the Doctor, gleefully. ‘The ripe old smell of humans. You survived. Oh, you might have spent a million years evolving into clouds of gas, and another million as downloads, but you always revert to the same basic shape. The fundamental humans. End of the universe and here you are. Indomitable! That's the word. Indomitable! Ha!’

Normally Rose would have smiled at the Doctor’s enthusiasm, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. The Doctor didn’t seem to feel guilty about Jack at all… or about all the lies and secrets (both the ones he had admitted to and those he was still hiding). He didn’t seem affected by any of it. It was all just business as usual. Rose knew he was good at hiding his emotions, but surely there had to be something there. Something to show her that she hadn’t been wrong about him - that it wasn’t _all_ a lie. 

Rose tried to push the doubts aside. She knew he must have had his reasons for leaving Jack and then lying to her about it. She just didn’t know if she would think those reasons particularly valid.

A woman stood up a little way down the corridor. ‘That’s me,’ she said in answer to Creet’s callings.

‘Mother?’ asked Padra, not quite daring to believe it. 

‘Oh, my God. Padra.’

The family ran to each other and embraced. This time Rose did smile. Not even her anger at the Doctor could stop her from appreciating the joy of a tear-felt reunion.  
  
‘It's not all bad news,’ said Martha.

Jack smiled at the family too before a young attractive man caught his attention. He immediately held out his hand for the man to shake. ‘Captain Jack Harkness. And who are you?’ 

‘Stop it,’ said the Doctor. He was standing next to a door, trying to open it with his sonic screwdriver. ‘Give us a hand with this. It's half deadlocked. I need you to overwrite the code. Let's find out where we are.’

Jack helped him with the door and the Doctor almost tumbled through as it slid open. Jack caught him and pulled him back before he could fall down into the open space on the other side. Rose cast a cautious glance through the door and now understood why this place was called the “silo”. The room that the Doctor had haphazardly tried to rush into was large and tube-like, spanning from the bottom floor, all the way to the top. It was a rocket silo, and stood proudly in the center, was the rocket. 

‘Now that is what I call a rocket,’ said Martha. 

‘They're not refugees,’ said the Doctor. ‘They're passengers.’

‘Passengers to where?’ asked Rose. 

‘He said they were going to Utopia,’ said Martha.

‘But Utopia doesn’t exist. It’s just a sort of… an ideal. Isn’t it?’ 

‘Hundred trillion years, it's the same old dream,’ said the Doctor. ‘You recognise those engines?’

For a second Rose thought he was talking to her, but quickly realised that the question was directed to Jack. 

‘Nope. Whatever it is, it's not rocket science. But it's hot, though.’

‘Boiling,’ agreed the Doctor.

They backed up and shut the door. ‘But seriously,’ said Rose. ‘Is Utopia real? Or is it just, I dunno,’ she lowered her voice to not be overheard by the passengers, ‘false hope. I mean, we’re at the end of the universe, there’s not a lot to look forward to.’

The Doctor made to answer but was stopped by a small, older man running up to them. He turned to Jack first. ‘The Doctor?’

‘That's me,’ said the Doctor and the old man quickly turned to him and smiled.

‘Good! Good! Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good. Good.’

The excitable man grabbed the Doctor’s arm and started dragging him back down the corridor. ‘It's good apparently,’ said the Doctor, allowing himself to be dragged along.

\----

They followed the old man, whom Rose had already decided that she liked, until they reached a messy laboratory. A blue alien in a white coat greeted them. ‘Chan welcome tho.’

The old man didn’t give the Doctor a chance to return the greeting, instead wheeling him straight to a piece of equipment and explaining what it was. Rose got lost at about the third word and promptly decided that the Doctor could manage by himself.

She walked over to the alien, who seemed to be female, and smiled. ‘Hello,’ she said. ‘I’m Rose, what’s your name?’  
  
‘Chan Chantho tho.’

Rose wasn’t entirely sure if that was her full name or if the Chan at the start of the sentence was separate, along with the tho at the end. She had used them in her greeting as well.

Martha walked over to join them, Jack close behind her. ‘My name’s Martha,’ she said.

Jack smiled at the alien whose name was yet to be properly defined. ‘Captain Jack Harkness.’ 

‘Stop it,’ said the Doctor from the other side of the room. 

‘Can't I say hello to anyone?’ asked Jack and Rose chuckled despite herself. It was just like old times… Rose’s smile fell. 

If only. 

The blue alien smiled shyly. ‘Chan I do not protest tho.’ She was definitely bracketing her sentences with her name. 

Jack winked at Chantho. ‘Maybe later, Blue.’ He turned to the Doctor and the old man who had brought them here. ‘So, what have we got here?’

He deposited his backpack by the far wall and moved over to the Doctor and the old man who were back to discussing the equipment. Rose had managed to gather that it was linked to the rocket somehow but that was about it.

‘What’s that?’ asked Martha before running over to the other side of the room where Jack had put down his backpack.

Rose turned to Chantho. ‘So, what’s all this for?’ she asked.

Chantho smiled shyly. ‘Chan the Professor can explain it better than I tho.’

Rose somehow doubted it but tuned back in to the Professor's conversation anyway. 

‘What do you think, Doctor? Any ideas?’ 

The Doctor looked around the room, awkwardly tugging on his ear. 'Well, um, basically, sort of… not a clue.’

At least Rose wasn’t the only one not following. 

‘Nothing?’ asked the Professor, clearly disappointed. 

‘We’re not from around these parts. I've never seen a system like it. Sorry.’ 

The Professor’s face fell. ‘No, no. I'm sorry. It's my fault. There's been so little help.’ 

‘Oh, my God!’ yelled Martha from the other side of the room, she had found what had distracted her earlier. She turned to Jack. ‘You've got a hand? A hand in a jar. A hand in a jar in your bag.’

Rose walked over to Martha. She wasn’t kidding! Jack had been a carrying a real flesh and blood hand around with him. It was emersed in clear liquid, bubbles flowing upwards from the bottom of the jar, making the fingers move. And if that wasn’t creepy enough, there was also a blue light coming from the bottom of the jar, illuminating the hand. Just when Rose was sure that Jack couldn’t possibly do anything more to surprise her, he went and did something like this. Who the hell kept a hand in a jar? More to the point, _why_ would anyone keep a hand in a jar?

‘But that… that's my hand,’ said Doctor, as surprised as anyone. He sat down next to the jar for closer inspection, brainy specs at the ready.

‘I said I had a Doctor detector,’ shrugged Jack. 

Poor Chantho looked quite frightened. ‘Chan is this a tradition amongst your people tho?’ 

‘Not on my street,’ said Martha. She turned to the Doctor. ‘What do you mean, that's your hand? You've got both your hands, I can see them.’ 

‘Long story,’ answered the Doctor. ‘I lost my hand Christmas Day, in a swordfight.’ He turned to Rose. ‘Remember that?’ 

Rose nodded. How could she forget? That fight had been the moment she had realised that this Doctor was the same man as the one before him. 

Martha still didn’t seem to believe him. ‘What? And you grew another hand?’ she scoffed. 

‘Er, yeah, yeah, I did. Yeah.’ Martha’s face fell into one of disgusted shock, to which the Doctor’s obvious reaction was to wiggle his fingers at her in a wave. ‘Hello.’ 

The Professor looked just as shocked as Martha, but more in a scientific curiosity sort of way. ‘Might I ask, what species are you?’ he asked the Doctor. 

The Doctor straightened. ‘Time Lord, last of.’ The Professor just stared at him blankly. Not the reaction the Doctor had no doubt been expecting. ‘Heard of them? Legend or anything?’ he asked and the professor shook his head and looked questioningly at Chantho, who wore the same blank expression. ‘Not even a myth?’ The Professor continued to shake his head. ‘Blimey, end of the universe is a bit humbling.’

‘Chan it is said that I am the last of my species too tho,’ said Chantho, sadly.

Rose rubbed her shoulder in what she hoped was a comforting manner. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. 

The Doctor nodded, solemnly. ‘Sorry, what was your name?’ 

It was the Professor who answered. ‘My assistant and good friend, Chantho.’ Chantho smiled at that. ‘A survivor of the Malmooth. This was their planet, Malcassairo, before we took refuge.’  
  
‘The city outside, that was yours?’ the Doctor asked Chantho. 

‘Chan the conglomeration died tho.’ 

‘I’m sorry,’ said the Doctor. 

‘Chan most grateful tho.’ 

Martha was still getting over the hand in the jar. ‘You grew another hand?’

The Doctor waved at her again. ‘Hello, again.’ Sensing that humour wasn’t being very reassuring to Martha, he stood up to face her. ‘It's fine,’ he said softly. ‘Look, really, it's me.’ 

He held out his hand for Martha to shake and she cautiously did so. When nothing out of the ordinary happened, she smiled. ‘All this time and you're still full of surprises.’ 

‘Chan you are most unusual tho,’ said Chantho, clearly enjoying the strange antics of the Doctor that Rose had come to consider normal. 

‘Well,’ said the Doctor, drawing out the word. He was trying to be modest at Chantho’s approval but was failing.

Rose turned to the Professor. ‘And what’s your name?’ she asked.

‘Sorry, how rude of me,’ said the man, turning to Rose. ‘Professor Yana.’

‘Nice to meet you, Professor,’ said Rose, holding out her hand. Yana went to take it but hesitated, looking warily at Rose. ‘Don’t worry, it’s the original, I swear.’ Yana gave a short huff a laughter before shaking Rose’s hand. 

‘So what about those things outside?’ asked Jack. ‘The Beastie Boys. What are they?’

‘We call them the Futurekind,’ said Yana, ‘which is a myth in itself, but it's feared that they are what we will become, unless we reach Utopia.’ 

‘And Utopia is?’ asked the Doctor, voicing Rose’s earlier question. 

‘Oh, every human knows of Utopia,’ chuckled Yana. ‘Where have you been?’ 

‘Bit of a hermit,’ said the Doctor. Not his most convincing line.

Yana looked quizzically at Rose, Martha and Jack. ‘A hermit with friends?’ 

‘Hermits United. We meet up every ten years and swap stories about caves. It's good fun, for a hermit. So, um, Utopia?’

Yana seemed to regard him for a moment before beckoning them to move over to the computer. He pressed a few buttons and a display showed up on the screen. It looked like a navigational map of some kind, with a glowing red dot in the corner.

‘The call came from across the stars, over and over again,’ explained Yana. ‘Come to Utopia. Originating from that point.’ 

‘How far away is it?’ asked Rose. That rocket looked impressive but was it made to last? They were at the end of the universe after all; resources were bound to be scarce. 

‘Oh, it's far beyond the Condensate Wilderness,’ said Yana. ‘Out towards the Wildlands and the Dark Matter reefs, calling us in. The last of the humans scattered across the night.’ 

‘What do you think's out there?’ asked the Doctor, peering at the screen. 

‘We can't know. A colony? A city? Some sort of haven? The Science Foundation created the Utopia Project thousands of years ago to preserve mankind, to find a way of surviving beyond the collapse of reality itself. Now perhaps they found it. Perhaps not. But it's worth a look, don't you think?’ 

The Doctor smiled. ‘Oh, yes. And the signal keeps modulating, so it's not automatic. That's a good sign someone's out there. And that's, oh, that's a navigation matrix. So you can fly without stars to guide you. Professor? Professor? Professor.’

Professor Yana had seemed to have drifted off for a moment, lost within himself. His expression was one of great pain. He came back with a shake of his head. ‘I… ahem, right, that's enough talk. There's work to do. Now if you could leave, thank you.’ He moved about the room, making a show of fiddling with the equipment as he went.

‘You all right?’ asked the Doctor and Rose together. 

Yana waved them off. ‘Yes, yes, I'm fine. And busy.’ 

‘Except that rocket's not going to fly, is it?’ said the Doctor and the Professor stopped and bowed his head. ‘This footprint mechanism thing, it's not working.’

‘We'll find a way!’ said Yana, determinedly. 

‘You're stuck on this planet. And you haven't told them, have you? That lot out there, they still think they're going to fly.’  
  
Yana sighed in defeat. ‘Well, it's better to let them live in hope.’ 

‘Quite right, too,’ said the Doctor, moving over to where Yana was now sitting, his coat disappearing from his shoulders along the way. ‘And I must say, Professor, this new science is well beyond me, but all the same, a boost reversal circuit, in any time frame, must be a circuit which reverses the boost. So, I wonder, what would happen if I did this?’ He held his sonic screwdriver to the end of a cable and pulled it. Suddenly an alarm started going off and the whole room buzzed with electricity.

‘Chan it's working tho!’ exclaimed Chantho. 

Yana looked stunned. He jumped up and looked around the room in amazement. ‘But how did you do that?’ he asked the Doctor.

‘Oh, while we've been chatting away, I forgot to tell you. I'm brilliant.’

\----

In a matter of minutes, the whole silo was alive with activity. The passengers were preparing to board while the workers carried out their required tasks. Anybody outside the gates had been called back.

Martha and Chantho had gone to fetch some things while Rose and Jack stayed to help the Doctor and Professor Yana get the machines up and running properly. Though Rose’s job mainly consisted of handing people things when they needed them.

The Doctor sniffed one of the wires he was holding. ‘Is this?’

Yana nodded. ‘Yes, gluten extract. Binds the neutralino map together.’

‘That's food. You've built this system out of food and string and staples? Professor Yana, you're a genius.’ He turned to Rose. ‘Isn’t that amazing?’ he asked, grinning.

Rose gave him a forced smile. What Professor Yana had done definitely _was_ amazing but she couldn’t share the Doctor’s enthusiasm. She was still angry and confused. She still hadn’t had a chance to properly get answers from him about why he had left Jack and by the looks of how things were going, it didn’t seem likely that she would get any any time soon.

The Doctor must have noticed her mood because his smile fell and, for a second, Rose saw the guilt that he had been hiding.

Yana didn’t seem to notice any of this. ‘Says the man who made it work,’ he said.

‘Oh, it's easy coming in at the end, but you're stellar,’ said the Doctor, albeit a little less enthusiastically than before. ‘This is, this is magnificent. And I don't often say that because, well, because of me.’

‘Well, even my title is an affectation,’ said Yana. ‘There hasn't been such a thing as a university for over a thousand years. I've spent my life going from one refugee ship to another.’

‘If you'd been born in a different time, you'd be revered,’ said the Doctor. Yana laughed disbelievingly. ‘I mean it. Throughout the galaxies.’

‘Oh, those damned galaxies. They had to go and collapse,’ said Yana in an attempt at a joking tone but Rose could hear the sorrow in his voice. ‘Some admiration would have been nice. Yes, just a little, just once.’

‘Well, you've got it now. But that footprint engine thing. You can't activate it from onboard. It's got to be done from here. You're staying behind.’

‘With Chantho,’ Yana nodded. ‘She won't leave without me. Simply refuses.’ 

‘You’d really do that?’ asked Rose, impressed. ‘Both of you would sacrifice your chance of salvation?’

‘Oh, I think I'm a little too old for Utopia,’ said Yana. ‘Time I had some sleep.’

‘And Chantho?’

‘She insists that she has no desire for Utopia.’ 

Rose let herself smile a little at that. She had seen the way Chantho had looked at the Professor and she was pretty sure she understood her reasons for refusing to leave. Rose herself had made the same decision. When faced with the chance of a life of riches with a happy family, she had given it up to remain with the Doctor. Even now, she still didn’t regret that decision. Sure she was angry with him, but that would pass. They would work it out eventually. It would just take a bit of pushing, that’s all.

The voice of the man who had originally showed them through the silo came over the comlink. ‘Professor, tell the Doctor we've found his blue box.’

Rose smiled in relief. They weren’t stuck here… and neither were Professor Yana and Chantho. 

Jack called them over to the computer screen and they jogged over to have a look.

‘Professor,’ said the Doctor, looking at the image of the TARDIS inside the silo. ‘It's a wild stab in the dark, but I may just have found you a way out.’ 

He clapped the professor on the shoulder and returned to working on the wires. He didn’t notice the glazed look Yana had on his face as he stared at the blue box on the screen.

\----

Some men had brought the TARDIS into the laboratory and the Doctor had rushed inside as soon as it was stable on the ground. A couple of minutes later, he came running back out, dragging a cable along with him. 

‘Extra power,’ he said, plugging the cable into a machine on the wall. ‘Little bit of a cheat, but who's counting? Jack, you're in charge of the retro feeds.’ 

Martha and Chantho returned, arms full of computer circuits. ‘Oh, am I glad to see that thing,’ said Martha as she noticed the TARDIS standing at the far side of the room.

Chantho moved over to the Professor, who Rose now noticed was sittng down, out of breath. ‘Chan Professor, are you all right tho?’  
  
‘Yes, I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine,’ insisted Yana though he looked anything but. ‘Just get on with it.'  
  
‘Connect those circuits into the spar, same as that last lot,’ said Jack to Martha and Chantho. ‘But quicker.’ 

‘Ooo, yes, sir,’ said Martha as she moved over to the machine. Chantho seemed relectunt to leave the Professor.

Rose knelt down next to him. ‘I’ll look after him,’ she told Chantho. ‘There’s not much I can do to help the others anyway.’

Chantho gave her a grateful smile and moved over to Martha. Yana made to get up but Rose but her hands on his shoulders and guided him back down. ‘It’s okay, you’ve done enough. The Doctor can take it from here.’ 

‘She’s right,’ said the Doctor. ‘We can handle it.’ 

‘It's just a headache. It's just, just noise inside my head,’ Yana whispered to Rose. She glanced over to the Doctor and could tell that he could hear every word despite Yana’s hushed tone. ‘This constant noise inside my head.’ 

‘What noise?’ asked Rose, also in a whisper.

‘It's the sound of drums. More and more, as though it's getting closer.’

‘Martha’s a medical student, maybe she could help? When did it start?’ 

Yana shook his head. ‘Oh, it’s too late for that, I think. I've had it all my life - every waking hour. Still, no rest for the wicked.’ He got up and this time Rose let him. As long as he didn’t overdo it, the work might provide a good distraction for him.

She sat down in the spot that Yana had just vacated, wondering what to do. Martha and Chantho were giggling in the corner as they completed their task, and Jack and the Doctor were helping Yana with the more complex wiring and things. Maybe Rose should spend some time learning about it all. After all, she was going to have a lot of time to do so now.

The guide from earlier came onto the comlink again. ‘Professor, are you getting me?’ 

Yana rushed over to the computer screen that showed a distorted picture of the man. The letters A T I L L O where displayed at the bottom of the screen. It took Rose a minute to realise that this must be the guide’s name. 

‘I'm here!’ said Yana, impatiently. ‘We're ready! Now all you need to do is connect the couplings, then we can launch.’ Atillo's face disappeared in a burst of static. ‘God sake! This equipment. Needs rebooting all the time.’ 

‘Anything I can do?’ asked Rose. ‘I feel useless just sitting here.'

‘Yes, if you could. Just press the reboot key every time the picture goes.’ He got up so Rose could sit down in front of the screen and pointed to a button on the keyboard.

Rose was a little disappointed at the simplicity of the task but was happy to help nonetheless. ‘Right, got it.’ She pressed the button and Atillo’s face reappeared.

‘Are you still there?’ he asked. 

Yana clapped his hands together. ‘Ah, present and correct. Send your man inside. We'll keep the levels down from here.'

The image changed to a red-lit room. A man in a hazard suit entered and approached a set of tubes in the middle of the room.

‘He's inside,’ said Atillo over the coms. ‘And good luck to him.’

Yana moved over to Jack. ‘Captain, keep the dials below the red.’ 

‘Where is that room?’ asked the Doctor. 

‘It's underneath the rocket. Fix the couplings and the footprint can work. But the entire chamber is flooded with stet radiation.’ 

They moved over to look at the monitor over Rose’s shoulder. ‘Stet?’ asked the Doctor. ‘Never heard of it.’ 

‘You wouldn't want to. But it's safe enough if we can hold the radiation back from here.’ 

An alarm started to sound as the man connected the equipment.

‘It's rising,’ said Yana, worriedly. ‘Naught point two.’ He turned to Jack. ‘Keep it level!’ 

‘Yes, sir,’ said Jack.

Another alarm started sounding after the second connection was made, this time the lights also began to flash. 

‘What’s going on?’ asked Rose.

‘Chan we're losing power tho!’

‘Radiation's rising!’ shouted the Doctor. 

‘We've lost control!’ added Jack. 

‘The chamber's going to flood,’ said Yana.

‘Can we get him out?’ asked Rose. The man on the screen was still trying to connect the third cylinder. 

‘Jack, override the vents!’ shouted the Doctor.

Jack pulled out two sparking cables. ‘We can jump start the override.’ 

‘Don't! It's going to flare!’ shouted the Doctor but it was too late. Jack held the cables together and convulsed and screamed as he was electrocuted.

‘Jack!’ shouted Rose as she abandoned her post at the screen to rush over to him.

‘I’ve got him,’ said Martha, also rushing to help. 

‘Chan don't touch the cables tho,’ shouted Chantho as the Doctor pulled Rose away from the live wire she hadn’t seen on the ground. She shrugged him off and, more cautiously, knelt down next to Jack.

Chantho threw the sparking cables out of the way.

‘Oh, I'm so sorry,’ said Yana.

‘The chamber's flooded with radiation, yes?’ asked the Doctor. Martha was now giving Jack mouth to mouth while Rose whispered encouragements under her breath.  
  
‘Without the couplings, the engines will never start,’ said Yana. ‘It was all for nothing.’

‘Oh, I don't know. Martha, leave him,’ said the Doctor pulling her away from Jack.

Rose stood up and looked at him incredulously. ‘Let her try!’ she practically shouted. ‘Your supposed to be his friend! What happened to you?’

‘It’s not whats happened to me,’ said the Doctor, his expression hard to read.

A big gasp from the floor caused Rose to turn around in amazement. ‘Was someone kissing me?’ asked Jack, looking up at them.

The Doctor turned to Professor Yana. ‘It strikes me, Professor; you've got a room which no man can enter without dying. Well, I think I've got just the man.’


	31. Utopia Part Two

The Doctor and Jack had run off to the control room underneath the rocket to continue on with connecting the equipment. The poor man who had been doing so earlier hadn’t made it.

Rose sat, staring at the screen, not noticing that it was only showing static. She was still processing the fact that Jack had come back to life right before her eyes. It wasn’t like the regenerating that the Doctor did, there was no explosion of light and no new face, he was just dead one minute and alive the next. How did something like that happen? Had he always been like that?

Rose shook herself out of it. She wasn’t going to get answers just yet, best to keep her mind focused on the situation at hand. She pressed the reboot key on the keyboard but nothing happened. ‘We can’t get a picture,’ she said to the room at large.

‘We must have lost it when that thing flared up,’ said Martha, joining her at the computer. ‘Doctor, are you there?’ 

‘Receiving, yeah,’ came the Doctor’s voice over the comlink. ‘He's inside.’ 

‘Is he all right?’ asked Rose.

‘He’s fine.’

‘But he should evaporate,’ said Yana. ‘What sort of a man is he?’

‘That is a loaded question,’ said Rose. ‘One I thought I knew the answer to. Guess not.’ She turned to Yana. ‘He used to travel with me and the Doctor.’ 

‘I've only just met him,’ said Martha. ‘The Doctor sort of travels through time and space and picks people up. God, I make us sound like stray dogs. Maybe we are.’

Rose really wanted to deny that. To tell Martha that he travelled with them because he saw something in them. Something worthwhile. But she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She was currently having doubts herself. How could he just leave Jack like that? Immortal or no. 

‘He travels in time?’ asked Yana.

‘Don't ask me to explain it,’ said Martha. ‘That's a TARDIS, that box thing. The sports car of time travel, he says.’

Martha fell silent at the sound of Jack and the Doctor’s conversation coming over the coms.

‘When did you realise?’ asked the Doctor. 

‘Earth, 1892,’ answered Jack. ‘Got in a fight in Ellis Island. A man shot me through the heart. Then I woke up. Thought it was kind of strange. But then it never stopped. Fell off a cliff, trampled by horses, World War One, World War Two, poison, starvation… a stray javelin. In the end, I got the message. I'm the man who can never die. And all that time you knew.’

Rose winced at every death Jack described. It must have been agony. 

‘That's why I left you behind,’ said the Doctor. ‘It's not easy even just… just looking at you, Jack, because you're wrong.’ 

‘Thanks,’ said Jack. 

‘You are. I can't help it. I'm a Time Lord. It's instinct. It's in my guts. You're a fixed point in time and space. You're a fact. That's never meant to happen. Even the TARDIS reacted against you, tried to shake you off. Flew all the way to the end of the universe just to get rid of you.’

Well, at least that answered that question. And Rose was right in her earlier suspicions, she didn’t think the Doctor’s reasons for leaving Jack were particularly valid.

‘So what you're saying is that you're… prejudiced?’ asked Jack in a slightly teasing tone. 

‘I never thought of it like that.’ 

‘Shame on you.’ 

The Doctor chuckled. ‘Yeah.’

‘Last thing I remember,’ said Jack, ‘back when I was mortal, I was facing three Daleks. Death by extermination. And then I came back to life. What happened?’

The Doctor didn’t answer and Jack asked his question again. 

‘Rose,' he said finally. 

Rose’s eyes widened. Her? What did she do? 

A gold-tinted memory flashed in her mind. Jack was lying dead on the floor of a Satellite 5 corridor. ‘I bring life,’ she heard herself say in an almost angelic voice. Suddenly Jack sat up with a gasp. 

Rose let out her own gasp as she recoiled from the memory. She had used the power of the time vortex to bring Jack back to life and now he couldn’t die. It was all her fault. _This must be what the Doctor feels_ , she realised. The reason he kept it hidden from her - so she wouldn’t feel the same burden. 

But that wasn’t enough to stop her from being angry with him. Who was he to decide what she could and couldn’t feel? And it didn’t change the fact that they had _abandoned_ Jack. No, she was still definitely angry.

She refocussed her attention on the conversation coming from the comlink. 

‘Do you think she could change me back?’ asked Jack. 

‘I took the power out of her,’ said the Doctor. ‘I’m sorry, Jack.’ There was a long pause before the Doctor asked, ‘Do you want to die?’ 

‘Oh, this one's a little stuck,’ said Jack, trying to avoid the question. 

The Doctor was having none of it. ‘Jack?’ he pressed.

Rose held her breath as she waited for Jack to reply. ‘I thought I did,’ he said. ‘I don't know. But this lot. You see them out here surviving, and that's… fantastic.’ Rose couldn’t help but smile a little at the last word. 

‘You might be out there, somewhere,’ said the Doctor. 

‘I could go meet myself.’

Now, that was a scary thought. 

‘Well, the only man you're ever going to be happy with,’ joked the Doctor. 

‘This new regeneration,’ said Jack, ‘its kind of cheeky.’ 

‘Are you following any of this?’ asked Martha and Rose jumped a little. She hadn’t realised Martha had moved so close.

‘Yeah,’ she croaked out. 

Any other questions that Martha had intended to ask were interrupted by Chantho rushing over to the Professor. Rose turned in her chair to see the Professor leaning against some equipment on the other side of the room. He looked even worse than he did before.

‘Chan Professor, what is it tho?’ 

‘Time travel,’ he gasped. ‘They say there was time travel back in the old days. I never believed. But what would I know?’ Tears started to form in his eyes. ‘Stupid old man. Never could keep time. Always late, always lost. Even this thing never worked.’

He pulled out an old fob watch from his pocket and Martha and Rose looked suspiciously at each other.

‘Time and time and time again,’ continued Yana. ‘Always running out on me.’ 

‘Can I have a look at that?’ asked Martha, holding her hand out for the watch. 

‘Oh, it's only an old relic. Like me.’ 

‘Where did you get it?’ asked Rose. 

Yana thought for a moment, as if he wasn’t exactly sure. ‘I was found with it.’ 

‘Found?’

‘An orphan in the storm,’ he explained. ‘I was a naked child found on the coast of the Silver Devastation. Abandoned, with only this.’ 

‘Have you ever opened it?’ asked Martha. 

‘Why would I? It's broken.’ 

‘How do you know it's broken if you've never opened it?’ 

‘It's stuck. It's old. It's not meant to be. I don't know.’

Slowly Martha turned the watch over and Rose bit back a gasp at the familiar circular patterns on it. It looked just like the one the Doctor had used to make himself human. Could Professor Yana have done the same thing? Was the Doctor not alone? 

‘Does it matter?’ asked Yana, referring to the watch. 

‘No. It's nothing,’ said Martha and she and Rose backed away.

‘We should tell the Doctor,’ whispered Martha.

‘You go,’ insisted Rose. ‘I’ll stay here and look after Yana.’

Martha nodded. ‘Listen, everything's fine up here,’ she said to Yana and Chantho. ‘I'm going to see if the Doctor needs me.’

Martha left the room in a hurry and there was an awkward silence in the room. A few moments later, the sound of the computer counting down to launch broke the spell and Rose and Chantho rushed to the screen.

‘Chan it’s working tho.’

Rose smiled and squeezed Chantho’s shoulders as the sound of the rocket taking off filled the room, the watch momentarily forgotten.

Rose turned to the Professor. ‘Professor Yana, you did it!’ But Yana didn’t seem to be celebrating his success. He was staring down at the now open watch. ‘Professor?’

Yana wordlessly moved over to a lever and pulled it down with ease.

‘Chan but you've locked them in tho,’ said Chantho, a confused look on her face.

‘Not to worry, my dear,’ said Yana. His voice lacked the friendliness it had displayed before. ‘As one door closes, another must open.’ He pulled another leaver and alarm started to sound.

Chantho made to walk over to him but Rose held her back. Yana was acting odd. Not the sort of way Rose would have expected a Time Lord to act, going by the limited knowledge she had on the subject. 

‘Chan you must stop tho,’ said Chantho as the Professor (or whoever he was now) continued to press buttons and flick switches. ‘Chan but you've lowered the defences. The Futurekind will get in tho.’ 

Rose let go of Chantho and stepped forward. ‘I know you’re not who you thought you were,’ she said to Yana. ‘What’s your name?’

Yana just chuckled as he moved over to some other equipment.

‘Chan Professor, I'm so sorry, but I must stop you. You're destroying all our work tho.’

Rose looked behind her to see Chantho pointing a gun at the man she had spent so many years admiring. 

Yana stopped flicking switches and turned to face them properly. ‘Oh, now I can say I was provoked,’ he said menacingly as he picked up one of the live cables that had electrocuted Jack earlier.

Rose stepped more fully in front of Chantho. ‘I won’t let you hurt her.’

‘Move, girl,’ spat the Professor. ‘I have other plans for you.’ He indicated the cable he was holding, ‘This is for her.’

‘But why?’ asked Rose. ‘She’s done nothing but support you for years. Surely you must remember that.’

‘Oh, I remember all those years,’ said Yana, advancing on them. He looked over Rose’s shoulder at the frightened Chantho. ‘Did you never think, all those years standing beside me, to ask about that watch? Never? Did you never once think, not ever, that you could set me free?’ 

‘Chan I'm sorry tho. Chan I'm so sorry,’ said Chantho as she and Rose backed away from the man who was most certainly not the Professor anymore.

‘You, with your chan and your tho driving me insane.’ 

‘Chan Professor, please.’ They had run out of floorspace and now Chantho was backed against a wall, Rose still stood in front, protecting her.

‘That is not my name!’ shouted Yana. ‘The Professor was an invention. So perfect a disguise that I forgot who I am.’

‘Who are you?’ asked Rose. 

‘I am the Master.’

With surprising strength, he grabbed Rose with his free hand and sent her spiraling across the room. She collided heavily with the equipment and let out a scream as she felt the bones in her leg snap on impact. She fell limply to the floor.

Chantho’s screams caused her to look up from the ground. Her heart fell as she realised she was unable to save her. The Professor – no, the Master - had thrust the sparking cable to her chest, electrocuting her. Now Chantho lay on the floor, close to death.

Rose tried to get up but the pain in her leg soared and she had to hold back a scream. The Master moved over to her and kicked her over so she was lying on her back. The taste of blood filled Rose's mouth and she realised that she had bitten her lip.

The Master continued around the room, disconnecting the TARDIS from the laboratory equipment. Curiously, he picked up the jar containing the Doctor’s hand and took it inside the TARDIS.

‘What are you doing?’ asked Rose through the pain.

‘Leaving,’ said the Master.

The sound of something banging on the door filled the room. ‘Professor!’ shouted the Doctor. ‘Professor, let me in! Let me in! Jack, get the door open now!’

The Master casually walked over to Rose and lifted her up into his arms.

‘No get off me!’ She struggled against him but it was no use. He carried her over to the TARDIS and chucked her inside. Literally chucked her. Rose flew through the air and rolled as she hit the metal grating. She could just about hear the Doctor’s continued efforts to get the laboratory door open.

The sound of a gunshot echoed from outside and there was a moment of silence before the Master retreated back inside the TARDIS, holding his stomach with his hand.

Rose looked past the Master and saw the Doctor, Jack and Martha rush into the laboratory. Her eyes locked on the Doctor’s for a moment before the TARDIS door closed and the Master locked it. She had never seen him look so afraid.

‘Killed by an insect,’ said the Master in distaste as he moved over to the console. The Doctor could be heard banging on the TARDIS door, begging to be let in. ‘A girl. How inappropriate. Still, if the Doctor can be young and strong, then so can I.’ He stood up straight and stepped away from the console. ‘The Master reborn.’

Rose shielded her eyes as the Master held his head back and an exploding light erupted from his body.

\----

The Doctor stood back as he watched the TARDIS windows light up with a familiar glow.

The Master was regenerating.

Of all the Time Lords that could have escaped the war, it just had to be him, didn’t it? Well, of course it was. He was all about survival, even if it meant hiding himself away in a watch at the end of the universe.

‘Doctor! You'd better think of something!’ shouted Jack. Him and Martha were at the door, trying to stop the Futurekind from breaking through.

Laughter came from inside the TARDIS. A new voice of a new Master. Maybe this one could be reasoned with.

‘Now then, Doctor,’ said the Master before pausing to adjust to his new body. ‘Oooo, new voice. Hello, hello. Hello. Anyway, why don't we stop and have a nice little chat while I tell you all my plans and you can work out a way to stop me, I don't think.’ 

That didn’t fill the Doctor with confidence but he still had to try. They were the only two left now. Everything had changed. Plus, Rose was in there.

‘Hold on. I know that voice,’ said Martha but the Doctor wasn’t listening.

‘I'm asking you really properly,’ he said to the Master. ‘Just stop. Just think!’

‘Use my name.’

The Doctor swallowed back the bile that was trying to escape his stomach. This new Master seemed just like the others. He had to get Rose out of there. ‘Master. I'm sorry,’ he pleaded.

‘Tough!’ shouted the Master and the sound of the TARDIS engines filled the room.

‘No!’ shouted the Doctor. ‘Give her back to me!’

‘I can't hold out much longer, Doctor!’ shouted Jack from the door.

But the Doctor had other things to worry about. The Master was stealing his TARDIS, and Rose along with it. Doing the only thing he could do, he lifted his sonic screwdriver and held the button down. At least now he would know where to find them. 

‘Doctor, stop him!’ shouted Martha but it was too late. ‘Help us. They're getting in!’

The Doctor stared at the disappearing TARDIS, his eyes set in anger and determination. He would get her back. He swore it.


	32. Eighteen Months

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am officially putting up a trigger warning for the next few chapters. They contain references to situations of dubious consent. There is nothing graphic but I think I might up the rating anyway.

Rose started to crawl to the door that led to the TARDIS corridors. Maybe she could seal herself in a room while her wounds healed.

She had made it halfway across the console room when she felt the Master’s hands grip her shoulders and haul her up. He shoved her across the room so she landed on the jump seat. He knelt down to look her in the eye.

‘Uh, uh, uh,’ he tutted. ‘Don’t think you’re getting away from me that easily, Rosie.’

‘Don’t call me that,’ she spat. That was Jack’s name for her.

The Master ignored her. ‘Now the question is… what do I do with you?’ 

Rose kept her mouth shut, opting to glare at him instead. The Doctor had never mentioned any criminal Time Lords, though Rose supposed there must have been some.

‘No suggestions? Well, I could just kill you…’ 

Rose closed her eyes and braced for the worst. When the Master’s attack never came, she opened them up again. The Master’s face was inches from hers now, his eyebrow furrowed in concentration... or perhaps confusion. ‘Give her back to me,’ he said. 

Rose stared at him blankly. ‘Sorry?’ 

‘The Doctor, he said, give _her_ back to me.’ 

‘Well, what did you expect him to say?’ asked Rose. ‘You just stole his TARDIS, of course he wants her back. She’s the only thing he has left of his home world.’ 

‘No, I don’t think that’s… What do you mean, the _only_ thing left?’ 

Rose faltered. How long had the Master been hiding? ‘You don’t know about the war?’ she asked. 

‘The Time War?’ 

Rose nodded. The Master’s curious stare told her that while he knew of the war, he didn’t know of its outcome. Despite everything, she felt a stab of pity for the man. She had to tell him the truth.

‘I’m sorry but your people - the Time Lords - they’re gone,’ she said softly. ‘You and the Doctor are the only ones left.’ 

The Master sat back on his heels. ‘And Gallifrey?’ he asked. 

‘Gone too.’ 

He stared into the distance for a moment before his eyes furrowed again, this time in anger. ‘You’re lying!’ he snarled as leant closer to her again.

Rose shook her head, partly in denial of the Master's accusation and partly out of fear. She had seen enough megalomaniacs in her time to recognise the mad glint they got in their eyes.

Slowly, he lifted his hands and placed his fingers on her temples.

The Doctor had long ago helped Rose train her mind to reject external forces (she had asked him to after that business with Cassandra on New Earth) but no amount of training could have prepared her for this. The Master’s attack felt like a bullet and before she knew what was happening, he was inside her mind. Memories of her and the Doctor flashed before her in reverse. She could almost see the Master’s smug smile. ‘Humans,’ he sneered. ‘So easy to break.’

The memories slowed as the Master found the one he was looking for. It was from just after the Doctor had taken her to see the end of the Earth. 

_My planet’s gone. Its dead - it burned like the Earth. Its just rocks and dust. Before it’s time._

_What happened?_

_There was a war and we lost._

_What about your people?_

_I’m a Time Lord. I’m the last of the Time Lords. They’re all gone, I’m the only survivor. I’m left travelling on my own cause there’s no one else._

_There’s me._

The Master retreated from her mind and Rose held back the tears of pain that were threatening to surface. She wouldn’t let him see how much the intrusion had hurt.

‘So, Gallifrey is really gone, then?’ said the Master, standing up and walking over to the console. Rose nodded shakily. She felt like she was going to throw up. ‘But you were wrong… the Doctor wasn’t talking about the TARDIS.’ 

He flicked a switch and the familiar sound of the TARDIS landing filled the room. He grinned before running out the door. It was only a few seconds before he ran back in, his grin replaced by a look of fury.

‘What’s he done?’ he asked to no one in particular. He moved over to the scanner and read the reading. ‘Oh, that clever bastard!’

Though her head and leg still felt like they were on fire, Rose let herself smile a bit. ‘So… what’s he done?’ she asked.

The Master spun to face her and Rose’s smile slowly faded at the glare he was giving her. Whoever the Master was, he definitely wasn’t stable. ‘He’s locked the controls. I can only travel between here and where we left.’

‘And where is here?’

‘Earth,’ said the Master in disgust. ‘21st century. I can get a little a leeway as to how far back I can go…’ He paused for a second before his glare faded and turned into a smile. ‘No, hang on… maybe I can work with this. After all, it is the Doctor’s favourite planet. Wouldn’t it be nice to watch it burn.’

‘You can’t,’ said Rose before she could stop herself.

The Master lunged towards her, placing his hands on the back of the jump seat, trapping her. ‘I can do whatever I like,’ he whispered before pulling away.

‘But what’s the point?’ she asked.

The Master shrugged. ‘For fun.’

Any hopes about being able to reason with him dissolved in an instant.

‘Although…’ he continued. ‘It would also make a good base for conquering the universe. The technology is sufficient.’

‘The Earth not enough for you?’

‘You gotta dream big, Rosie. Yes, I like that plan.’ He moved back over to the console. ‘Let’s see how far back we can go.’

The TARDIS shuddered as the Master tried to fly her. After a couple of minutes, she stilled and the Master looked at the screen. ‘January 2007,’ he read. ‘I suppose that will have to do.’

Rose gulped. January 2007… her Mum was still out there. She schooled her expression, she couldn’t give the Master any sign of her worry, lest he used it against her. ‘The Doctor won’t let you do this,’ she said, defiantly. ‘He’ll make it back.’

The Master chuckled. ‘Oh, Rosie… I don’t doubt it.’

\----

The first six months of her imprisonment had gone by in excruciating slowness. The Master had somehow gotten his hands on a luxurious house (not quite a mansion but still not one you would expect your average Joe to live in) and had locked Rose in one of the bedrooms. She hardly saw him - or anyone else - at all after that. The house was obviously secluded enough to make sure that nobody discovered her or the TARDIS.

Rose wasn’t complaining too much about the isolation. The few times that the Master had visited her were mainly to gloat or to get information and had left her feeling that little bit more hopeless than before. He had forced his way into her mind again twice since they had landed in London, 2007. The first time was after he got curious as to how her broken leg had healed in a week (he had been quite angry to discover that he couldn’t see Rose’s memories of when she was the Bad Wolf any more than she could), and the second was to find out more about Jack and Martha.

Rose felt sick just thinking about it.

She glanced around her room, trying to distract herself from dwelling on the painful memories.

As prison cells went, it was rather comfortable. The window was barred but still let a bit of sunlight in. She had regular meals brought to her by random maids; a comfortable bed with clean sheets; an ensuite; and a small television in the corner.

It was only due to this television that Rose could get any idea of what the Master was up to. In the chaos that had followed Harriet Jones’s resignation as Prime Minister, the Master had seized his opportunity to slip in through the cracks. Rose felt a little sick over the fact that it was something that the Doctor had done that had allowed the Master to put his plan into motion. Although, Rose still wasn’t entirely sure what that plan was. So far, all she could gather was that the Master (aka Harold Saxon) was on his way to becoming the next Prime Minister.

Still, it wouldn’t matter much to her for much longer anyway. It was July, 2007. The Battle of Canary Wharf was coming and once the Doctor opened the void, she would be pulled into it. Or at least the force of trying to be pulled through a solid brick wall or a barred window would kill her. She kind of hoped for the latter.

Her door opened with a click and the Master strolled in. Rose could see two armed guards on the other side of the door before it closed. They had been there ever since her first escape attempt in week two.

‘What do you think of the new suit?’ asked the Master, doing a spin. ‘Big meeting today. Gotta dress to impress.’

Rose shrugged before turning away.

The Master walked around the room so that he could look her in the eyes. ‘What? No smart comebacks? Come on, Rosie… what’s the matter?’ Rose shrugged again. She really wasn’t in the mood to entertain. ‘Finally accepted that your precious Doctor isn’t going to rescue you?’

That got Rose’s attention. ‘He will stop you,’ she hissed. ‘Whatever it is you’re playing at, the Doctor will find a way to stop it.’

The Master clapped his hands together in glee. ‘That’s more like it! For a moment there, I thought you had lost your spark. Can’t have that, now, can we?’

‘I’ll lose more than my spark soon enough,’ said Rose.

The Master looked at her in confusion. ‘What do you mean?’

‘It’s July, 2007… the ghosts are coming.’

The Master snorted. ‘Please. I know all about Torchwood. Those “ghosts” are easily containable.’

‘I guess you’re not as smart as you think you are, then. Because those ghosts are far stronger than anything Torchwood is ready for. They’re Cybermen.’

The Master’s smile faltered. ‘Cybermen?’

Rose nodded. ‘I’ve lived it. Cybermen will march the streets and Daleks will fly through the air.’

‘Well if you’ve lived through it once, what makes you think you won’t survive this time?’

‘Because this time there is nothing to stop me being pulled into the void.’

The Master continued to look confused. ‘You know what?’ he said after a moment. ‘This conversation getting a little taxing. Let’s just skip to the important details, shall we?’

Before Rose could back away, the Master had placed his hands on her head and had entered her mind. Her memories of the Battle of Canary Wharf flashed before her.

_We've all got Void stuff. Me too because we went to that parallel world. We're all contaminated. We'll get pulled in._

The Master retreated from her mind and Rose turned away to hide the pain on her face.

‘So, it looks like you are going to lose your bargaining chip,’ she said with a sniff. ‘I’ll be dead in a few days and then the Doctor won’t have any reason to hold back.’

‘The TARDIS could protect you,’ said the Master, starting to pace the room. He stopped and turned to face her. ‘But if you try anything, I’ll throw you into the void myself.’

\----

The Master marched Rose through the house at gunpoint. Her hands were bound behind her with zip ties. 

Right at the back of the house, there was a room with even more locks than what Rose’s room had. The Master pointed what looked like a red sonic screwdriver at the locks and then placed his hand against a panel on the wall. The door slid open to reveal the blue box that Rose thought she would never see again.

The Master shoved her forwards and she stumbled a bit before he caught her and continued to guide her across the room.

Rose walked into the TARDIS and gasped at what she saw. ‘What have you done to her?’ she asked, appalled.

There was some sort of barrier around the central column, but Rose could still see the wires hanging from it. The whole room was bathed in a deep red glow, giving it a sinister look. The TARDIS’s usual comforting hum sounded strained – sickly, even.

‘Just a little pet project,’ said the Master evasively as he turned on a television set that he had brought in for the occasion. 

The screen burst into life and the Master flicked through the stations until he found a news report. It didn’t take long. The Cybermen had pushed through the void and now the whole world was panicking. The Master and Rose watched in silence as the news reports urged people to stay in their homes.

As the hours trickled by, the stories of devastation and chaos grew more intense. Now that the Daleks had entered the scene, so many more lives were being lost.

‘I’ve already written a speech,’ said the Master, fiddling with the gun vicariously. ‘You know, we-shall-not-forget-this-day and all that. Public disasters are great for making politicians look good.’

Rose scoffed. ‘I don’t think there is anything that can make you look good. I don't know how you even got this far.’

‘Ah well, I have a little secret.’ He moved closer to Rose and she winced as he leant down to whisper in her ear. ‘You may have heard of my little Archangel Project...’

‘The phone thing?’

The Master nodded. ‘Well, it transmits a bit more than phone signals. Promise you won’t tell.’ He leaned back, a gleeful grin on his face.

‘What’s it transmtting?’ asked Rose.

‘The drums.’ 

With his free hand, the Master tapped his fingers against the base of the jump seat in a repeated rhythm that sounded a lot like a drum beat.

‘You’re brainwashing them,’ said Rose in realisation.

‘I prefer the term, hypnotism,’ said the Master. ‘It's kind of my speciality.’ He seemed very proud of that fact.

Rose turned back to the TV in disgust.

It wasn’t long before the news report announced that the streets were all clear of the robot monsters and that recovery teams had been sent out to see to the dead. The Master clapped his hands together. ‘Well, that was exciting. I hope you enjoyed your little vacation. Back to your room you go.’ 

With a wave of the gun, the Master ushered Rose out of the TARDIS.

\----

Thirteen months, Rose had been stuck in her room. Thirteen months and twelve days to be precise. All escape attempts had failed and Rose was beginning to give up hope of being rescued. It had been over a year and there had yet to be any news on _anyone_ trying to bring down the Master, let alone the Doctor.

Rose was starting to worry that the Doctor wasn’t coming. Jack had had his vortex manipulator on him but maybe the Doctor couldn’t get it to work? Maybe those Futurekind things had gotten to him before he could? Or maybe he couldn’t track the TARDIS? There were so many things that could stop the Doctor from getting to her. On her darkest days, Rose wondered if it was simply because he just didn’t care about her.

Rose shook herself out of it. Her faith in the Doctor may have waned a bit during the last thirteen months, but she still believed that he would do whatever he could to save her and stop the Master’s plan - whatever that plan was.

"Harold Saxon" was officially running for Prime Minister now. And the election was only a couple of months away. Rose’s only source of comfort was that his opposition was giving him a decent run for his money. The latest opinion polls had showed that the numbers were too close to call.

The door opened and the Master strolled in, obviously in a mood. Rose rolled her eyes and focussed her attention back to the TV that was showing a sort of documentary-style bio on each of the election candidates.

‘It’s frustrating, Rosie,’ he said, pacing the room. ‘The Archangel Network is running perfectly. What am I doing wrong?’

‘You’re not doing anything wrong,’ said Rose. ‘It’s just who you are.’

The Master scoffed. ‘These pitiful humans should feel privileged to have me as their ruler.’

‘And that’s your problem,’ said Rose, finally turning to face him. ‘That’s why you won’t win, even with your brainwashing. You lack that human element. Those pitiful little humans, as you call them, don’t trust you. Their instincts are too strong.’ 

The Master looked at the picture of his main opposition that was being shown on the TV screen. The little bald man was waving at the camera, an arm draped over his wife’s shoulder.

After a moment, the Master smiled and stalked towards Rose. ‘Every good politician needs a wife, don’t you think?’ he said, now right in front of her. ‘It makes them look more human.’

He lifted his fingers towards her temples and with a rush of panic, Rose realised his intention. She tried to fight back but it was no use. The Master entered her mind and Rose Tyler was lost, buried beneath a new persona: Rose Saxon, devoted wife of the future Prime Minister of Great Britain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys but I am going to have to leave you there until I finish _Last of the Time Lords_. Hopefully it won't take too long. I have a week off work coming up so I'll do what I can in between studying and assignments.


	33. The Sound of Drums Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about the wait. These couple of episodes were a lot longer than I thought they would be.

The Doctor bit back a groan as his feet hit the hard surface of the London alleyway. A vortex manipulator was not the most comfortable mode of transportations but at least it had gotten them where they needed to be.

With a bit of difficulty, the Doctor had managed to fix Jack’s time travel device before the Futurekind could get to them and had set the coordinates for the Earth, the day they had left. 

‘Oh, my head,’ said Martha, clearly not enjoying the trip either. 

‘Time travel without a capsule - it’s a killer,’ said the Doctor, already walking down the alley. There was no time to waste. If the Doctor knew the Master (and he did), he would already have a plan in mind, possibly even in motion depending on how long he had been there. The Doctor had locked the TARDIS controls the best he could, but there would be a little wriggle room. Not much, but more than enough for the Master to do some serious damage. After all, causing damage was one of the Master’s specialties.

And he had Rose.

The Doctor couldn’t get the image of Rose staring out at him from inside the TARDIS out of his head. He had only caught a glimpse, but a glimpse was enough to see the fear in her eyes. The Master had only been with her for a few minutes and she had already looked like she had had at least one broken bone and a split lip.

The Doctor closed his eyes, trying not to think of what more the Master could have done to her in the time since. 

It didn’t work.

With even more determination, he increased his stride as he walked out of the alley and onto the busy street. Martha and Jack had to jog a little to catch up with him.

‘Still, at least we made it,’ said Jack. ‘Earth, twenty first century by the looks of it. Talk about lucky.’ 

‘That wasn't luck,’ said the Doctor. ‘That was me.’

‘The moral is, if you're going to get stuck at the end of the universe, get stuck with an ex-Time Agent and his vortex manipulator.’ 

‘But this Master bloke, he's got the TARDIS,’ said Martha. ‘He could be anywhere in time and space.’ 

‘No, he's here. Trust me,’ said the Doctor, looking around the street as if the Master could appear at any minute. 

‘Who is he, anyway? And that voice at the end, I swear I’ve heard it before.’ 

‘If the Master's a Time Lord, then he must have regenerated,’ said Jack. 

The Doctor turned to Martha, only just reailising what she had said. ‘Hold on, you’ve heard his voice before? Are you sure?’

‘Positive,’ nodded Martha. ‘I just can’t think where…’ She looked distractedly over the Doctor’s shoulder, ‘…from.’

The Doctor turned around to see what Martha was looking at, it was a set of public television screens showing a news report on the new Prime Minister. 

‘Mister Saxon has returned from the Palace and is greeting the crowd inside Saxon Headquarters,’ said the newsreader and the image changed to a shot of the Prime Minister walking down a set of steps to greet a bunch of news reporters. That was him – the Doctor just knew. The Master was Prime Minister of Great Britain.

‘The Master is Harold Saxon,’ whispered Martha in shock but the Doctor was more focused on the woman walking down the stairs beside him. It was Rose.

‘She looks okay,’ said Jack. ‘She doesn’t look hurt, at least.’

On the television screen, the Master and Rose stood in front of the media. ‘Mister Saxon, this way, sir,’ said one of the photographers. ‘Come on, kiss for the lady, sir.’

With a smile, the Master obliged. He leant down and gave Rose a kiss, one that she returned without hesitation. One could even say gladly.

‘Oh my God,’ said Martha. ‘But that’s Saxon’s wife!’

‘Wife?’ asked the Doctor, still staring at the screens in shock. What had the Master done? Surely Rose wouldn’t willingly marry him. He must be threatening her somehow, or have hypnotised her, or... 

The Master had always been particularly talented at bending people to his will but the Doctor had trained Rose to reject those sorts of tricks. No, there was definitely something else going on here. The Doctor could think of one possibility, but it was too despicable to even consider. But it was exactly the sort of thing the Master would do.

‘It can’t be Rose,’ continued Martha. ‘She wouldn’t.’ The Doctor missed the meaningful glance that she gave him; he was too transfixed by the image on the screen.

‘She must be playing along,’ said Jack. ‘To survive.’

The Doctor tried to get a better look at Rose’s face to see her expression. She never was a great liar, if she was there by force, he would be able to tell. Unfortunately, the cameramen seemed more interested in the Master. Not that surprising, seeing as he was making his first speech as Prime Minister.

‘This country has been sick,’ said the Master to the cameras. ‘This country needs healing. This country needs medicine. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that what this country really needs, right now, is a Doctor.’

The Doctor glared at the screen, wishing he could wipe that smug smile off of the Master’s face. He was planning something (because controlling one island wasn’t enough for someone like the Master) and whatever it was, the Doctor would stop it. He would get back his TARDIS and he would save Rose. She may not have looked like she needed, or even wanted, saving at the moment, but the Doctor was positive that the Master had done something to her. Whether it was a threat to her life, or something even darker, the Doctor was going to put an end to it.

He turned to Martha. ‘I need you to tell me everything you know about Harold Saxon.’

‘You can Google it. It’s all online.’

‘You got a computer?’ 

‘Yeah, of course.’

‘Right. Then, let’s go.’

He didn’t wait for a reply before turning and walking off in the direction of Martha’s flat.

\----

‘Home,’ sighed Martha in relief as she walked into her flat. The Doctor and Jack were close behind her. 

‘Where’s your computer?’ asked the Doctor, straight to business, and Martha ran off to retrieve her laptop from one of the other rooms. ‘Jack, who are you phoning? You can't tell anyone we're here.’ 

‘Just some friends of mine,’ said Jack hanging up his mobile phone, ‘but there's no reply.’

Martha returned with her laptop. ‘Here you go.’

‘I can show you the Saxon websites,’ said Jack, opening the computer. ‘He's been around for ages. I can’t believe I didn’t notice that Rose was his wife.’ He turned to the Doctor, regret in his eyes. ‘I’m sorry.’ 

‘I know,’ said the Doctor. Pictures of the Prime Minister’s wife must have been few and far between for Jack not to recognise her. But it was still a little strange. 

‘Me too,’ said Martha. ‘She hasn’t been in the news much. She was studying abroad or something when we left. Must have only got back just before the election… That's so weird, though. It's the day after the election. That's only four days after I met you.’ 

‘We went flying all around the universe while he was here all the time,’ said the Doctor, impatiently waiting for Martha’s laptop to load. 

‘You going to tell us who he is?’ 

‘He's a Time Lord.’ 

‘What about the rest of it? I mean, who'd call himself “the Master”?’ 

‘That's all you need to know,' said the Doctor. He didn’t have time to explain their long history. He was more worried about who the Master was now. 'Come on, show me Harold Saxon.’

Martha walked over to check her answering machine. Tish’s voice filled the room, she was saying something about a new job, but Martha switched it off. ‘Oh, like it matters,’ she muttered.

\----

Rose waited patiently in the Drawing Room. Her husband was busy with the Cabinet and she didn’t really have a lot to do. Truth be told, she was just trying to hide from the new girl, Tish.

Tish had approached Rose just after Harry had gone to address the Cabinet and had started asking her all these questions about the other night and why she hadn’t said anything about being Harold Saxon’s wife and did Martha know. Rose had no idea what the girl was talking about. The night in question, Rose had been sleeping off a serious bout of jet lag, she hadn’t been scurrying about cathedrals with a man called “the Doctor”. 

And who the hell was Martha?

Rose pressed her fingers to her temple as the sound of Tish’s voice got nearer. She had been having quite a few headaches lately. And they were being brought on by the strangest of things; random people talking to her, reading certain books, Elvis. She couldn’t even eat chips anymore without her head feeling like it was going to split open. And worst of all, the thing that caused the most pain, was Harry’s time machine. The all-important piece of equipment that would ensure his – _their_ plan would succeed.

Rose lowered her fingers just as the Drawing Room door opened. A well-groomed blonde woman strode through, Tish trotting along behind her. ‘You can't just go barging in.’

The woman ignored her and instead faced Rose and held up a business card. ‘Mrs Saxon. Vivien Rook, Sunday Mirror. You've heard of me.’

Great, another reporter wanting to get the “inside scoop” on Harold Saxon. As if she hadn’t had to deal with enough of them during the few days that she had been back in England. 

‘Oh, can't I just have an hour to myself?’ she asked politely. It wouldn’t do well for Harry’s image for her to snap at the press. ‘It's been a hell of a day.’

‘Oh, strike while the iron's hot, that's what I say, Rose,’ said Vivien. ‘I can call you Rose, can't I?’ She didn’t wait for an answer. ‘Now, everyone's talking about Harold Saxon, but I thought, What about the wife? All I need is twenty minutes.’ 

‘Oh, I think maybe we should wait,’ said Rose. 

‘The headline's waiting to print. The Power Behind the Throne.’

That caused Rose to reconsider her position. ‘Really?’ she asked. There had been so many articles and stories on Harry, but none of the reporters ever seemed to be interested in Rose. It might be nice to get a little recognition. Harry had insisted she stay out of the spotlight during the lead up to the election, but now that it was over, now that they had won, surely he wouldn’t mind one article.

‘Britain's First Lady,’ continued Vivien. ‘Front page.’ 

Rose made up her mind. ‘All right, why not? Go on then. Twenty minutes.’ 

Vivien smiled and put her folder down at the table. ‘Excellent!’ She turned to Tish. ‘Thank you. Go, go, what was it? Er, Tish. Now you can leave us alone.’ She handed the bewildered Tish her coat and started to usher her out of the door. Rose bit her lip a bit to stop herself from laughing. 

‘No, but I'm supposed to sit in,’ said Tish. 

‘No, no, it's only a profile piece. You know, hair and clothes and nonsense. There's a good girl. Out you go. That's it.’ Vivien continued to push Tish out of the room until she could finally shut the door behind her. When she turned back to Rose, her smile was gone. ‘Mrs Saxon, I have reason to believe that you're in very great danger. All of us, in fact. Not just the country, but the whole world.’ Rose began to interrupt but Vivien cut her off. ‘No, I beg of you, hear me out.’ 

‘What are you talking about?’ asked Rose, hoping it wasn’t what she thought it was about. 

‘Your husband is not who he says he is. I'm sorry, but it's a lie. Everything's a lie.’

Shit.

Vivien grabbed her folder and sat down opposite Rose. ‘All of it. The school days, his degree, even his mother and father, it's all invented.’ She opened her file and pulled out a picture to show Rose. It was one of Harry at his graduation. Rose had seen it a million times before. ‘Look, Harold Saxon never went to Cambridge. There was no Harold Saxon. The thing is, it's obvious. The forgery is screaming out and yet no one can see it. It's as if he's mesmerised the entire world.’  
  
Rose had had enough. ‘I think you should leave now.’

‘Eighteen months ago, he became real,’ continued Vivien, ignoring Rose’s warning. She pulled out another picture. ‘This is his first, honest to God appearance, just after the downfall of Harriet Jones. And at the exact same time, they launched the Archangel Network.’ 

‘Mrs Rook, now stop it.’ She was getting too close. 

‘Even now they've said that the Cabinet has gone into seclusion. I mean, what does that mean, seclusion?’ 

‘How should I know?’ 

‘But I've got plenty of research on you. ‘Father died when you were 6 months old, lived on the Estates with your mother, reported as missing for a year while you travelled, and then listed as dead, along with your mother, after Canary Wharf. That was until Harold Saxon took you off the list a month later.'

Rose was only half listening. Her headache had returned at the mention of her mother. Not because Rose had hated her mother, she missed her terribly, it was just one of those subjects that triggered her migraines.

Vivien had moved on to her school record. ‘Dropped out of high school, not especially bright but essentially harmless. And that's why I'm asking you, Rose. I am begging you. If you have seen anything, heard anything, even the slightest thing that would give you cause to doubt him?’ 

Rose faltered as memory flashed in her mind. Harry’s face was dangerously close to her own, his eyes filled with rage. 

_I can do anything I like._

'I think...'

‘Yes?’ prompted Vivien, moving over to sit next to Rose. 

‘There was a time when we first met,’ said Rose, not quite sure of what she was saying. ‘I…’

‘What? Just tell me, sweetheart.’

But then the feeling of unease passed as quickly as it had come. ‘The thing is, I made my choice.’ 

‘I'm sorry?’ asked Vivien. 

‘For better or for worse… Isn't that right, Harry?’ She turned to face her husband who was leaning against the doorframe behind them.

‘My faithful companion,’ said Harry.

Vivien quickly picked up her file. ‘Mister Saxon,’ she said, her voice a little shaky. ‘Prime Minister, I was just having a little joke with poor little Rose. I didn't mean.’  
  
‘Oh, but you're absolutely right,’ he said, striding into the room and Rose knew that Vivien had sealed her fate. ‘Harold Saxon doesn't exist.’

‘Then tell me,’ said Vivien. ‘Who are you?’ 

‘I am the Master and these,’ four floating spheres appeared in the air next to him, ‘are my friends.’ 

Vivien stared in bewilderment. 

‘I'm sorry,’ said Rose. And she was. She really was. 

‘Can't you hear it, Mrs Rook?’ asked the Master. 

‘What do you mean?’ asked Vivien.

‘The drumbeat. The drums coming closer and closer.’ 

Sharp spikes extended from the spheres. 

‘The lady doesn't like us,’ said one in a child-like voice. No matter how many times Rose heard it, it still creeped her out. 

‘Silly lady,’ said the other sphere. 

They advanced on Vivien, forcing her towards the wall. 

‘Dead lady.’

Vivien screamed and the Master and Rose ran out of the room as the spheres went in for the kill. The Master shut the door behind them, silencing the noise. A few seconds later, he opened it again but immediately closed it as Vivien continued to scream. A moment later, he tried again but got the same result. Rose dared not look back into the room.

Not being able to stop herself, Rose brought a hand to her face and let out a sob. Harry immediately opened his arms for her and pulled her close.

‘She knew,’ cried Rose. ‘Harry, she knew everything. You promised. You said Archangel was one hundred percent.’ 

‘Ninety nine, ninety eight?’ said Harry. 

‘But if she's asking questions, then who else? How much time have we got?’ 

‘Tomorrow morning. I promise. That's when everything ends.’

\----

Finally, Martha’s laptop loaded and Jack brought up Saxon’s webpage. A video of random celebrities, pledging their support played before he got to the important stuff.

‘Former Minister of Defence. First came to prominence when he shot down the Racnoss on Christmas Eve. Nice work, by the way.’

‘Thanks,’ muttered the Doctor, distractedly. He was peering over Jack’s shoulder, taking in every line of information presented on the website.  
  
‘But he goes back years,’ said Martha. ‘He's famous. Everyone knows his story. Cambridge University, Rugby blue. Won the Athletics thing. Wrote a novel, went into business, everything. He's got a whole life.’

Jack flicked through pictures on the website to illustrate Martha’s point. He stopped and paused at the wedding picture. Her face was mostly hidden by a veil, but there was no denying the happy smile on Rose’s face. 

The Doctor wasn’t quite sure what to feel at the sight of the picture. Relief because Rose was not physically harmed? Anger because she was most certainly not doing this by her own free will? Or jealousy because it wasn’t him that she was marrying?

‘But he's got the TARDIS,’ said Jack, getting up to make them some tea. ‘Maybe the Master went back in time and has been living here for decades.’  
  
‘No,’ said the Doctor simply, still staring at the wedding picture. 

‘Why not? Worked for me.’

The Doctor tore his eyes away from the screen to face Jack as he brought over a hot mug of tea. ‘When he was stealing the TARDIS, the only thing I could do was fuse the coordinates. I locked them permanently. He can only travel between the year one hundred trillion and the last place the TARDIS landed. Which is right here, right now.’ 

‘Yeah, but a little leeway?’ 

‘Well, eighteen months, tops,’ admitted the Doctor, taking his tea. ‘The most he could have been here is eighteen months. He turned back to the computer. ‘So how has he managed all this? The Master was always sort of hypnotic, but this is on a massive scale.’ 

‘I was going to vote for him,’ said Martha.

‘Really?’ 

‘Well, it was before I even met you. And I liked him.’ 

‘Me too,’ said Jack. 

‘Why do you say that?’ Neither Martha nor Jack seemed to be sure. ‘What was his policy? What did he stand for?’ 

‘I don't know,’ said Martha, beginning to tap her fingers against her chair. Her expression turned almost dreamlike. ‘He always sounded good. Like you could trust him. Just nice. He spoke about... I can't really remember, but it was good. Just the sound of his voice.’ 

‘What's that?’ asked the Doctor, pointing to Martha’s fingers. The rhythm she was tapping was very distinct. 

‘What?’ asked Martha, snapping out of her trance. 

‘That. That tapping, that rhythm. What are you doing?’ 

‘I don't know. It's nothing. It's just, I don't know.’ 

Before the Doctor could ponder on it further, music started playing from the laptop. The three of them turned to see a message on the Saxon website. 

Saxon Broadcast All Channels. 

The Doctor scurried over to the TV and turned it on. ‘Our lord and master is speaking to his kingdom,’ he said with a little disdain. 

“Britain, Britain, Britain,’ the Master’s voice sounded through the TV speaker. ‘What extraordinary times we've had. Just a few years ago, this world was so small. And then they came, out of the unknown, falling from the skies. You've seen it happen. Big Ben destroyed. A spaceship over London. All those ghosts and metal men. The Christmas star that came to kill.’ Videos from each incident played as the Master made his speech. ‘Time and time again, and the government told you nothing. Well, not me. Not Harold Saxon. Because my purpose here today is to tell you this; citizens of Great Britain, I have been contacted.’

The Doctor glanced at Jack and Martha who were wearing the same confused expression. Just what was the Master playing at?

‘A message for humanity, from beyond the stars,’ said the Master and the image changed to show a floating metal sphere. Not a life form that the Doctor had come across before. 

‘People of the Earth,’ said the sphere. ‘We come in peace. We bring great gifts. We bring technology and wisdom and protection. And all we ask in return is your friendship.’

The image switched back to the Master. ‘Oooh, sweet,’ he said. ‘And this species has identified itself. They are called the Toclafane.’ 

‘What?’ said the Doctor. The Toclafane weren’t real. They were just a fairytale. 

‘And tomorrow morning, they will appear,’ continued the Master. ‘Not in secret, but to all of you. Diplomatic relations with a new species will begin. Tomorrow, we take our place in the universe. Every man, woman and child. Every teacher and chemist and lorry driver and farmer. Oh, I don't know, every medical student?’

The Doctor turned to look at Martha; she was just as shocked as him.

The Master knew they were watching. He knew they were here. The Doctor turned back to the television set and spun it around. Taped to the back were seven sticks of explosives.

‘Out!’ shouted the Doctor, getting to his feet. ‘Everybody out now!’ He grabbed the laptop and the three of them ran out of Martha’s home.

Just as they reached the street, a blast of fire consumed the top floor of the converted house, the force of it almost sending the Doctor to the ground. 

‘All right?’ he asked his friends. 

‘Fine, yeah, fine,’ said Jack.

Martha didn’t answer; she had her mobile phone in her hand and was dialing a number. ‘Martha? What are you doing?’  
  
‘He knows about me. What about my family?’ 

‘Don't tell them anything,’ said the Doctor, more angrily than intended. 

‘I'll do what I like,’ Martha snapped back at him before returning her attention to the phone.

Her mother picked up the phone and for a moment, it seemed like she was fine, but as the conversation continued, Martha’s face grew more worried.

‘Dad? Just say yes or no,’ said Martha into the phone. ‘Is there someone else there?’ There was a pause while Martha anxiously waited for an answer, and then the worry really set in. Some sort of commotion was happening on the other end of the line. ‘Dad? What's going on? Dad?’

She hung up the phone and turned to the Doctor. ‘We've got to help them,’ she said, already heading towards her car. 

‘That's exactly what they want,’ said the Doctor. ‘It's a trap.’

‘I don't care,’ said Martha, getting into the driver’s seat.

The Doctor, knowing there was no use arguing, got into the front passenger seat of while jack got in the back. Without waiting for anybody to put their seatbelts on, Martha hit the accelerator and sped off down the road. 

Martha used the hands free device on her car to call Tish. ‘Come on, Tish. Pick up,’ she muttered under her breath.

‘Martha, I can’t talk right now,’ came Tish’s voice at last. ‘We just made first contact. Did you see?’ There was a pause. ‘What are you doing? Get off! Linda, tell them!’

‘What's happening?’ asked Martha, panic in her voice. ‘Tish!’ But there was no answer.

The line went dead and Martha turned to the Doctor. ‘It's your fault. It's all your fault!’

The Doctor didn’t argue. She was right. Martha and her family were being targeted by the Master because of their connection to him. Not to mention what Rose was going through.

It was all his fault.

Martha hit the brakes as her mother’s home came into view. Francine and Clive were being manhandled into a police van.

Francine looked up at the sound of the car. ‘Martha, get out of here!’ she yelled. ‘Get out!’

The police all turned to face the car and aimed their weapons.

‘Martha, reverse,’ said the Doctor, urgently. ‘Get out, now!’

Martha threw the car into reverse just as the police began to fire. The rear window shattered as the bullets hit it. 

‘Move it!’ shouted Jack but Martha was already on it. She hit the accelerator and the car sped off away from the flying bullets… and away from her family. The Doctor felt the familiar pang of guilt at the thought of what sort of fate awaited Martha’s parents. 

‘The only place he can go - planet Earth,’ said Martha, angrily. ‘Great!’ 

‘Martha, listen to me,’ said Jack, leaning over from the back seat. ‘Do as I say. We've got to ditch this car. Pull over. Right now!’

Martha nodded and turned down a street towards an underpass.

Parking the car on the side of the road, the three of them collected what they thought they might need (such as the laptop) and walked away through the light rain.

Martha was on her phone again. ‘Martha, come on!’ shouted the Doctor, impatiently, but she waved him off. 

‘Leo! Oh, thank God,’ she said as her brother answered the phone. ‘Leo, you got to listen to me. Where are you?’

The Doctor waited as Martha warned Leo about the Master. He was anxious to get out of sight but he let Martha talk to her brother. He owed her that much. 

Suddenly Martha fell silent and the Doctor turned to see that her face was now masked in worry and anger. ‘Let them go, Saxon,’ she said. ‘Do you hear me! Let them go!’

The Doctor ran to her and took the phone out of her hands and held it to his ear. ‘I'm here,’ he said.

‘Doctor,’ said the Master.

‘Master.’

‘I like it when you use my name.’

The Doctor rolled his eyes. ‘You chose it. Psychiatrist's field day.’

‘As you chose yours,’ said the Master. ‘The man who makes people better. How sanctimonious is that?’

‘So, Prime Minister, then,’ said the Doctor, trying to get to the point.

‘I know,’ said the Master, gleefully. ‘It's good, isn't it?’

Good was definitely not the word the Doctor was thinking of using.

‘I’ve even got a wife and everything,’ continued the Master and the Doctor stilled, trying not to rise to the bait. ‘Did you see?’

‘What have you done to her?’ he asked as calmly as he could.

‘I married her.’

‘No,’ said the Doctor, a little bit of anger creeping into his voice now. ‘Because the Rose I know would never agree to that. You’ve done something to her, but what I don’t understand, is _why_.’

The Master chuckled. ‘Good for public image.’

‘No, that’s not it. You could have chosen anyone. You could have found some nice, easily corruptible girl with a good name and a respected family but instead you went for a high school drop out from the Estates. Why her?’

The Master sighed dramatically. ‘Fine. If you must know, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I’ve been inside her head. All those treasured memories. The handholding, the hugs that last just a little too long. I knew you had a soft spot for humans but this is taking it a bit far, don’t you think?’

The Doctor bristled at the conformation of what he had suspected. The Master had been inside Rose’s mind… and changed it. The woman standing beside him in the Saxon wedding picture wasn’t Rose. Not anymore.

‘If you lay one finger on her,’ started the Doctor but stopped at the Master’s snort of laughter.

‘Oh, don’t worry; I’m not going to kill her. This is much more fun.’ The Doctor went to protest further but the Master cut him off. ‘Look, I know how much you _love_ this particular topic of conversation, but can we change the subject? There are some things I need to ask you.’ 

The Doctor didn’t rise to the jab. ‘Go on then,’ he said through gritted teeth.

‘Gallifrey,’ said the Master and the Doctor sighed. As much as he hated him right now, he owed the Master an explanation. ‘It’s really gone?’ 

‘Yes.’

‘And the Time Lords?’

‘Dead. And the Daleks, more or less. What happened to you?’

‘The Time Lords only resurrected me because they knew I'd be the perfect warrior for a Time War,’ said the Master. ‘I was there when the Dalek Emperor took control of the Cruciform. I saw it. I ran. I ran so far. Made myself human so they would never find me, because I was so scared.’

‘I know,’ said the Doctor. He understood what that felt like.

‘All of them?’ said the Master. ‘But not you. You ended it.’

‘I was the only one who could. And I tried. I did. I tried everything.’

‘What did it feel like, though? Two almighty civilisations burning. Oh, tell me, how did that feel?’

‘Stop it!’ snapped the Doctor. Of course the Master would focus on that aspect. 

‘You must have been like God.’ 

‘I've been alone ever since. But not anymore. Don't you see? All we've got is each other.’

‘Are you asking me out on a date?’ said the Master. ‘Because, I’m kind of married, remember?’

The Doctor once again fought to control his anger. ‘You could stop this right now,’ he said. He had to give the Master a chance. Even if he knew it was pointless, he had to try. Maybe he could end it now. ‘We could leave this planet. We can fight across the constellations, if that's what you want, but not on Earth.’

‘Too late.’

‘Why do you say that?’

‘The drumming,’ said the Master. ‘Can't you hear it? I thought it would stop, but it never does. It never ever stops. Inside my head, the drumming, Doctor. The constant drumming.’

‘I could help you. Please, let me help.’

‘It's everywhere. Listen, listen, listen. Here come the drums. Here come the drums.’

The Doctor turned at the sound of a familiar rhythm. A man was leaning against a wall not far from him, tapping his hands against his thighs to the same beat as Martha had done earlier.

‘What have you done?’ asked the Doctor. ‘Tell me how you've done this. What are those creatures? Tell me!’

‘Oh look. You're on TV,’ said the Master.

‘Stop it. Answer me.’

‘No, really. You're on telly. You and your little band, which, by the way, is ticking every demographic box. So, congratulations on that. Look, there you are.’

The Doctor walked over to a shop window. The television screen inside was showing a news report. Pictures of Martha, Jack and the Doctor appeared on the screen, along with the headline, Nationwide Hunt For Terrorist Suspects.

‘You're public enemies number one, two and three,’ said the Master, smugly. ‘Oh, and you can tell handsome Jack that I've sent his little gang off on a wild goose chase to the Himalayas, so he won't be getting any help from them. Now, go on, off you go. Why not start by turning to the right?’

The Doctor turned to his right and saw a CCTV camera. ‘He can see us,’ he said to Jack and Martha as he zapped the camera with the sonic screwdriver.

‘Oh, you public menace,’ said the Master in mock annoyance. ‘Better start running. Go on, run.’

‘He's got control of everything,’ said the Doctor, lowering the phone from his ear. 

‘What do we do?’ asked Martha. 

‘We've got nowhere to go,’ said Jack. 

‘Doctor, what do we do?’

The Doctor could hear the Master’s voice shouting from the phone. ‘Run, Doctor. Run for your life!’

He felt like a puppet, with the Master pulling his strings, but they had no other choice. 

‘We run.’


	34. The Sound of Drums Part Two

The Doctor tapped away at Martha’s laptop, browsing the news sites. He doubted he would find anything of interest but it was the best they had at the moment. Although, Jack had found a way to track the Master via government wavelengths.

Martha returned with some food, immediately asking for news on her family. 

‘It still says the Jones family taken in for questioning,’ said the Doctor and Martha’s face fell. ‘Tell you what, though. No mention of Leo.’

That brightened her up a bit. ‘He's not as daft as he looks,’ she said before shaking her head in disbelief. ‘I'm talking about my brother on the run. How did this happen?’ 

‘Nice chips,’ said Jack, referring to the meal that Martha had brought them.

The Doctor looked down at his food, only just realising what he was eating.

_I want chips._

_Me too._

‘They’re not bad,’ he said, quietly, trying not to think about Rose. He already missed her. 

‘So, Doctor, who is he?’ asked Jack, giving the Doctor a welcome distraction. ‘How come the ancient society of Time Lords created a psychopath?’ 

‘And what is he to you?’ asked Martha. ‘Like a colleague or...?’

‘A friend, at first,’ said the Doctor. 

‘I thought you were going to say he was your secret brother or something,’ said Martha with a small laugh. 

‘You've been watching too much TV.’ 

‘But all the legends of Gallifrey made it sound so perfect,’ said Jack.

‘Well, perfect to look at, maybe,’ said the Doctor. Everything else was just as corrupt as the rest of the universe, but the Doctor didn’t want to focus on that. Not now that all he had were memories. ‘And it was. It was beautiful. They used to call it the Shining World of the Seven Systems. And on the Continent of Wild Endeavour, in the Mountains of Solace and Solitude, there stood the Citadel of the Time Lords, the oldest and most mighty race in the universe, looking down on the galaxies below. Sworn never to interfere, only to watch.’ 

‘Children of Gallifrey were taken from their families age of eight to enter the Academy,’ he explained. ‘Some say that's when it all began - when he was a child. That's when the Master saw eternity. As a novice, he was taken for initiation. He stood in front of the Untempered Schism. It's a gap in the fabric of reality through which could be seen the whole of the vortex. You stand there, eight years old, staring at the raw power of time and space, just a child. Some would be inspired. Some would run away. And some would go mad.’

The Doctor didn’t think he would ever forget that day when it was his turn to look into the Schism.

‘What about you?’ asked Martha. 

‘I ran,’ he said simply. ‘I ran and I never stopped.’ 

Before Martha could ask any more questions, Jack’s vortex manipulator beeped.

‘Encrypted channel with files attached,’ said Jack, reading the device. ‘Don't recognise it.’  
  
‘Patch it through to the laptop,’ said the Doctor but Jack hesitated a little. 

‘Since we're telling stories, there's something I haven't told you,’ he said as he patched the files through to the Martha’s computer. The Doctor looked at him quizzically for a moment before looking at the laptop.

And then he understood. 

All the anger that the Doctor had been pushing down over the day threatened to surface. ‘You work for Torchwood,’ he said with a bit of a growl. 

The Doctor remembered Torchwood’s attitude towards anything alien, how they had shot down the Sycorax ship. He remembered how careless they had been and how they had unknowingly aided the Cybermen in invading London. A carelessness that had almost taken Rose away from him. 

‘I swear to you, it's different,’ said Jack. ‘It's changed. There's only half a dozen of us now.’ 

‘Everything Torchwood did, and you're part of it?’ 

‘The old regime was destroyed at Canary Wharf. I rebuilt it, I changed it, and when I did that, I did it for you in your honour.’

The Doctor really wanted to believe him, and maybe part of him did, but he was still angry. Torchwood had almost destroyed his world. Much like the Master was doing now.

Turning away from Jack, the Doctor pressed play on the video that had appeared on the computer screen. He could worry about Torchwood later. 

A middle-aged blonde woman appeared on the screen. ‘If I haven't returned to my desk by twenty two hundred, this file will be emailed to Torchwood,’ she said. ‘Which means if you're watching this, then I'm… Anyway, the Saxon files are attached. But take a look at the Archangel document. That's when it all started. When Harry Saxon became Minister in charge of launching the Archangel Network.’ 

‘What's the Archangel Network?’ asked the Doctor. 

‘I've got Archangel,’ said Martha. ‘Everyone's got it.’  
  
‘It's a mobile phone network,’ explained Jack as he opened the file. The screen showed a picture of the Earth surrounded by ten or so satellites. ‘It’s gone worldwide. They've got fifteen satellites in orbit. Even the other networks, they're all carried by Archangel.’ 

‘It's in the phones!’ said the Doctor in realisation. He took Martha’s phone and held the sonic up to it. ‘Oh, I said he was a hypnotist. Wait, wait, wait, hold on.’ He tapped the phone against the table (a bit harder than intended but it survived) and a rhythmic beeping started coming from it.

_Can’t you hear it? The constant drumming._

‘There it is,’ said the Doctor. ‘That rhythm, it's everywhere, ticking away in the subconscious.’ That was how the Master was controlling the world, making them trust him. 

‘What is it, mind control?’ asked Martha. 

‘No, it's subtler than that. Any stronger and people would question it. But contained in that rhythm, in layers of code, Vote Saxon. Believe in me. Whispering to the world. That's how he hid himself from me, that’s why you two didn’t recognise Rose.’

‘Is that how he’s controlling her?’ asked Martha.  
  
‘No,’ said the Doctor, darkly. That suppressed anger started to make itself known again at the thought of what the Master had done to Rose. Thankfully, neither Martha nor Jack pushed it.

‘Any way you can stop it?’ asked Jack. 

The Doctor wasn’t sure if he was referring to Archangel or the Master’s control of Rose, but either way the answer was the same. 

‘Not from here.’

‘But now we know how he's doing it,’ said Martha, obviously referring to the Archangel Network, ‘we can fight back.’

The Doctor let himself smile at that. ‘Oh, yes!’ 

\----

The Doctor, Martha, and Jack watched as the Master greeted the President of America. The Doctor had rigged up the TARDIS keys to create three perception filters for them to wear. It didn’t make them invisible, just unnoticed. It was because of this that they were able to stand out in the open, a little way away from where the President was now getting into his private car. 

From their position, they had picked up quite a bit of the conversation. The President had not been too happy about the Master making “first contact” (actually, he had not been too happy about anything, really) and was insisting that he be the one to address the Toclafane. This televised address was to take place tomorrow morning onboard a ship called, the _Valiant_.

The Master whispered something to Rose and then she too left in a private car.

The Master looked out across the airport, it looked like he was waiting for something. And it just so happened that he was staring straight at them.

For a brief moment, the Doctor worried that he could see them, that the perception filters wouldn’t work on him, but the moment passed as soon as a police van drove up and the Master turned back around and gleefully bounded over to it. 

It didn’t take long to find out what the Master was so excited about. A guard opened the van doors and Martha’s family stepped out. They were all in handcuffs.

‘Oh my God,’ whispered Martha as her family were ushered into another van.

‘Don't move,’ warned the Doctor. The perception filters made them unnoticed but they weren’t foolproof. If Martha tried to free her family now, she would be caught.

‘But-’

‘Don't.’ 

‘I'm going to kill him,’ growled Martha and the Doctor was sorely tempted to let her try.

‘What say I use this perception filter to walk up behind him and break his neck?’ said Jack.

‘Now that sounds like Torchwood,’ said the Doctor, though he knew he was being a bit hypocritical seeing as he had been thinking similar thoughts. 

‘Still a good plan,’ muttered Jack. 

‘He's a Time Lord, which makes him my responsibility. He’s the only other Time Lord left.’

Jack seemed to understand and changed the subject. ‘Aircraft carrier Valiant. It's a UNIT ship at fifty eight point two north, ten point oh two east.’

‘How do we get on board?’ asked Martha. 

‘Does that thing work as a teleport?’ asked the Doctor, nodding at Jack’s vortex manipulator. 

‘Since you revamped it, yeah.’ Jack pressed a few buttons. ‘Coordinates set.’

The Doctor and Martha each put a hand on the vortex manipulator and the three of them disappeared in a bright blue light as they were transported to the Valiant.

\----

‘Oh, that thing is rough,’ said Martha as she recoiled from their latest teleportation. 

‘I've had worse nights,’ said Jack, getting up off the floor. ‘Welcome to the Valiant.’

They appeared to be in the engine room.

‘It's dawn?’ said Martha, looking out the window. ‘Hold on, I thought this was a ship. Where's the sea?’ 

The Doctor joined Martha at the window and looked out at the clouds.

‘A ship for the twenty first century,’ said Jack. ‘Protecting the skies of planet Earth.’

The Doctor turned away and started heading up the corridor. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘No time for sightseeing.’

He waited to be sure that Martha and Jack were following him before he quickened his pace to a run.

A few corridors later, he suddenly stopped and turned. A humming sound had caught his attention. 

‘No time for sightseeing,’ Jack reminded him. 

But this was definitely more important than sightseeing. The Doctor put his hand up to silence Jack. ‘Can't you hear it?’ he asked. 

‘Hear what?’ 

‘Doctor, my family's on board,’ said Martha impatiently. ‘And don’t you want to save Rose?’

‘Of course I do,’ said the Doctor, a little angrily. ‘But to save her and your family, we have to know what the Master is up to. And I think I may have found a way to find out.’

He set off at a run again, this time in a different direction.

\----

Eventually they made it to the room that the familiar humming was coming from. ‘Oh, at last!’ cried the Doctor in relief as he opened the door and walked up to the TARDIS. 

‘Oh, yes!’ cried Martha in equal relief. 

‘What's it doing on the Valiant?’ asked Jack.

The Doctor opened the TARDIS door, rejoicing in this one little break in an otherwise hellish day. He hadn’t wanted to admit it, but he was rather worried that he would never see the old girl again.

However, his relief quickly turned to back into anger when he walked through the doors and saw the console room.

‘What the hell has he done?’ asked Jack. 

‘Don't touch it,’ warned the Doctor.

‘I'm not going to.’  
  
‘What's he done, though?’ asked Martha. ‘Sounds like it's sick.’ 

‘It can't be,’ whispered the Doctor, getting a better look at the console. The central column was now surrounded by metal mesh. 

‘Doctor, what is it?’ 

‘He's cannibalised the TARDIS.’ 

‘Is this what I think it is?’ asked Jack. 

The Doctor nodded. ‘It's a paradox machine.’ Whatever the Master was up to was evidently far worse than what the Doctor had feared. 

He tapped the gauge that was situated on the mesh. ‘As soon as this hits red, it activates. At this speed, it'll trigger at…’ He grabbed Jack’s wrist so that he could read his watch. ‘Two minutes past eight.’ 

‘First contact is at eight,’ said Jack. ‘Then two minutes later…’

‘But what's it for?’ asked Martha. ‘What does a paradox machine do?’ 

‘More importantly, can you stop it?’ asked Jack. 

‘Not until I know what it's doing,’ said the Doctor. ‘Touch the wrong bit, blow up the solar system.’ 

‘Then we've got to get to the Master,’ said Martha. 

‘Yeah, but how are we going to stop him?’ asked Jack.

‘Oh, I've got a way,’ said the Doctor, already formulating the plan in his head. ‘Sorry, didn't I mention it?’

\----

President Winters addressed the cameras from the stairs while the rest of the officials watched from the boardroom table.

The Doctor had to admit that the Valiant was impressive. The room they were currently in was well furnished and spacious, even with the massive boardroom table in the centre of the room. The steps that the President was standing on led up to a deck where you would no doubt get an amazing view of the Earth below from the multiple windows. Windows that were currently letting in the eight o’clock morning sun. 

‘This plan, you going to tell us?’ whispered Jack as Winters continued to give his speech. 

The Doctor held up his key. ‘If I can get this around the Master's neck, cancel out his perception, they'll see him for real. It's just hard to go unnoticed with everyone on red alert. If they stop me you've got a key.’

‘Yes, sir.’ 

‘I'll get him,’ said Martha with absolute resolution.  
  
‘And I ask you now, I ask of the human race, to join with me in welcoming our friends,’ said Winters from the stairs. ‘I give you the Toclafane.’ Four metal spheres appeared in the air behind the President. ‘My name is Arthur Coleman Winters,’ he said to the spheres. ‘President Elect of the United States of America, and designated representative of the United Nations. I welcome you to the planet Earth and its associated moon.’

The Doctor didn’t like this, the Master looked far too happy.

‘You're not the Master,’ said one of the spheres to the President. 

‘We like the Mister Master,’ said another. 

‘We don't like you,’ said the third. 

Winters looked a little caught of guard. ‘I can be master, if you so wish,’ he said as the spheres started to circle him. ‘I will accept mastery over you, if that is God's will.’ 

‘Man is stupid,’ said the spheres. 

‘Master is our friend.’ 

‘Where's my Master, pretty please?’ 

At this, the Master put his hands up and got out of his seat. ‘Oh, all right then. It's me.’ He walked over to the bottom of the stairs to address the room and the cameras. The Doctor, who had been slowly edging closer to him, bit back a growl of frustration. Now it was going to be even harder to get the key around the Master’s neck. 

‘Ta da!’ said the Master, jazz hands and all. ‘Sorry, sorry, I have this effect. People just get obsessed. Is it the smile? Is it the aftershave? Is it the capacity to laugh at myself? I don't know. It's crazy.’

‘Saxon, what are you talking about?’ asked Winters. 

‘I'm taking control, Uncle Sam, starting with you.’ He nodded at one of the spheres. ‘Kill him.’

The sphere fired an energy bolt and Winters exploded with a scream of agony.

Within seconds, every gun in the room was pointed at the spheres.

The Master clapped and laughed manically but what worried the Doctor more was that Rose shared his expression. How deep into her mind must the Master have gone to change her that much?

‘Guards,’ shouted the Master and those under his control pointed their guns away from the Toclafane and refocused their aim on the other people in the room.

The Master bounded up the stairs to properly address the cameras. Rose was not far behind him.

‘Now then, peoples of the Earth. Please attend carefully.’

It was now or never. The Doctor took off his key and lunged for the Master but he was too slow. Two guards grabbed him by the arms and dragged him to his knees.

‘We meet at last, Doctor,’ said the Master. ‘Oh, ho. I love saying that.’ 

‘Stop this!’ shouted the Doctor. ‘Stop it now!’ 

‘As if a perception filter's going to work on me,’ taunted the Master and he looked up to where Martha and Jack were standing. ‘And look, it's the girlie and the freak. Although, I'm not sure which one's which.’

Jack ran forward in his own attempt of attack but the Master pulled out what looked like a sonic screwdriver and pointed it at him. A beam of light shot out of the tip and Jack collapsed. Martha ran over to help him but it was evident by her expression that Jack was dead.

‘Laser screwdriver. Who'd have sonic? And the good thing is, he's not dead for long. I get to kill him again!’ 

A gasp from behind him made the Master turn around. Rose was looking at Jack’s body in shock, her hand covering her mouth. For a moment, she looked like her old self.

The Master took a step towards her and put a hand on her cheek and just like that, she was back under his control.

‘You all right, love?’ he asked.

‘Yes, yes,’ said Rose, shaking her head. ‘Sorry, I don’t know what’s the matter with me.’ She put a hand to her head and rubbed her temple. The Master’s control was obviously causing her pain as her own mind tried to fight back. 

The Doctor struggled harder against the guards but it was no use. ‘Just stop,’ he begged. ‘If you could see yourself.’ 

The Master turned back to the camera that the Doctor had forgotten was there. ‘Oh, do excuse me. Little bit of personal business. Back in a minute.’ He turned to the guard holding the Doctor. ‘Let him go.’

The guards didn’t so much “let” the Doctor go, it was more of a throwing him towards the floor kind of deal.

‘It's that sound,’ said the Doctor as the Master approached him. ‘The sound in your head. What if I could help?’ 

‘Oh, how to shut him up?’ asked the Master. ‘I know. Memory Lane.’ He sat down on the bottom step so that he was eye to eye with the Doctor. He was just far enough away to make it impossible for the Doctor to get at him before the guards shot him. ‘Professor Lazarus. Remember him and his genetic manipulation device? What, did you think that little Tish got that job merely by coincidence? I've been laying traps for you all this time. And if I can concentrate all that Lazarus technology into one little screwdriver?’ He held up his screwdriver before he paused and rested his chin in his hand, feigning sadness. ‘But, oooh, if I only had the Doctor's biological code. Oh, wait a minute,’ he snapped his fingers, ending the façade, ‘I do.’ He ran across he room and opened a metal briefcase. ‘I've got his hand.’

Sure enough, the briefcase contained the Doctor’s spare hand in a jar – the one that Jack had been carrying. 

‘And if Lazarus made himself younger,’ continued the Master, ‘what if I reverse it? Another hundred years?’ He aimed the screwdriver at the Doctor and pressed the button.

The Doctor screamed as his body convulsed. He could feel himself being aged at a frightening speed.

When the pain finally stopped and the Doctor could move again, he knew his body had turned frail. He could feel it in his bones. 

Martha crawled over from the now revived Jack. ‘Doctor? I've got you.’

‘Aw, she's a would-be doctor,’ said the Master. ‘But tonight, Martha Jones, we've flown them in all the way from prison.’ He held his arm out at the door and Clive, Tish and Francine walked in, accompanied by more guards. 

‘Mum,’ said Martha in despair. 

‘I'm sorry,’ said Francine with tears in her eyes.

The Doctor turned to the Master. ‘The Toclafane. What are they? Who are they?’ 

The Master kneeled back down. ‘Doctor, if I told you the truth, your hearts would break.’ 

‘Is it time?’ asked one of the Toclafane. ‘Is it ready?’ 

‘Is the machine singing?’ 

The Master stood up and looked at his watch. ‘Two minutes past,’ he said and he moved back to his position in front of the cameras.

The Doctor spared a quick glance at Rose. She was still holding her head in discomfort. She didn’t look nearly as happy as she had done five minutes ago. For a moment, the Doctor felt ashamed of having her see him like this – old and frail – but then he remembered that, right now, she didn’t even know who he was.

The Master addressed the millions of people who were watching this all play out live on their televisions. ‘So, Earthings. Basically…um… end of the world.’ He held his screwdriver in one hand above his head in an almost Nazi-ish salute. ‘Here come the drums!’

Music filled the room and the Master ran to a window. The Doctor could hear lightning and thunder outside. Whatever was happening, it was too late to stop it. But there was another way…

Rose ran over to join the Master at the window, and looked out in wonder.

From his position on the floor, the Doctor could just about see the metal spheres flying by. There must have been hundreds of them. Thousands, even.

‘Shall we decimate them?’ the Master asked Rose, putting an arm around her shoulder. ‘That sounds good. A nice word, decimate.’ He addressed the Toclafane. ‘Remove one tenth of the population!’  
  
Thinking fast, the Doctor grabbed Martha and whispered his plan in her ear. It was asking a lot of her, he knew, but it was the only way. 

Martha looked at him uncertainly but, after a moment, she nodded and moved away from him. Jack passed her the vortex manipulator and she stood to look at her family. A single tear rolled down her cheek.

Transmissions were coming in from Geneva, begging for help. The Toclafane were slaughtering them. Other transmissions came in from all over the globe, all with the same message. _Help us_.

Martha took one last regretful look at her family before she pressed the button on the vortex manipulator and disappeared. The Doctor didn’t know how safe she would be, but at least she had a chance. Which is more than what the rest of them had at the moment.

The Master turned and glared at the Doctor as he realised that Martha had escaped. ‘Where did she go?’ he asked, running over to him.

‘Away from you.’

The Master glared for a few more seconds before his face broke into a manic grin. ‘No matter. The Toclafane can deal with her.’ He grabbed the Doctor by the shoulders and steered him up the stairs so he could get a proper view of his work. The Doctor stared out in shock at the sight before him. He had grossly underestimated the amount of Toclofane that had descended down to planet below. There were millions of them! And still more coming out of the rip in the sky.

The Master put a hand on the Doctor’s shoulder and leaned forward to whisper in his ear. ‘How does it feel, Doctor, to see me take everything from you? Your freedom; your precious little human friends; your girl. _The whole world_. How does it feel?’

The Doctor didn’t answer. He wouldn’t give the Master the satisfaction of admitting that he had finally won. 

But the Master didn’t need his confirmation, he already knew. He looked out the window at the Toclafane. ‘And so it came to pass that the human race fell, and the Earth was no more, and I looked down upon my new dominion as Master of all, and I thought it… good.’

\----

Martha Jones hit the grassy hillside at a roll. Travel by vortex manipulator really was a killer. 

She slowly pushed herself to her feet and stared out at the distant city of London. Thousands, if not millions, of Toclofane were flying towards it through the torn sky, leaving fire and devastation in their wake.

It looked like hell. 

This is what the Master had done – what he was doing to the whole world. 

Martha gritted her teeth. The Doctor had given her a mission and she was going to see it through. It would be tough, but if it would save the Earth – save her _family_ – then it was worth it. 

With her eyes set in unwavering determination, she took one last look at her home city and then ran for the cover of the nearby trees. 

‘I’m coming back.’


	35. Last of the Time Lords Part One

The Doctor sat in front of the tent that had been his home for the past 365 days. It had been a year since he had seen the outside world (apart from what he could see out of the flight deck windows of the Valiant). A year since he had set foot on solid ground. A year since he had seen Martha Jones.

Francine pottered around the room, wearing her usual servant attire. The Master had made Tish and Francine maids and Clive a janitor (all under strict supervision, of course). Jack, however, couldn’t be trusted to even be a slave to the Master - after all, the threat of death meant little to him - so instead he had been held captive down in the lower levels of the Valiant.

Rose stood by the table, her guard not far behind her. The Doctor never saw Rose without her guard. He was supposedly there for her protection, but the Doctor knew the truth. He was there to make sure that the influence the Master had over Rose wouldn’t be jeapordised by seeing the Doctor. To stop him from reminding her who she was.

But one measly guard wasn’t enough to stop him from trying.

The first time he had tried to coax memories out of Rose, he thought he might have succeeded. He had definitely seen her lips twitch into a small smile when he had mentioned apple grass. But that stint had gotten him a punch to the gut and the next time he saw Rose (two weeks later), that small spark or recognition had disappeared. Now he barely saw her at all. Whenever she did appear on the bridge, the Master usually soon followed.

Right on cue, the Master’s voice came over the tannoy system. ‘Citizens rejoice. Your lord and master stands on high, playing track three.’

The far door opened and the Master literally span inside as music filled the room. He glided over to Rose and gave her a forceful kiss and then gave her a little spin as he danced.

Rose may have seemed to have eagerly returned the kiss, but the Doctor didn’t miss her look of annoyance as the Master turned away. Their happy little marriage had started to crumble over the past year. Now that the Master had what he wanted, he no longer had to keep up the pretense of a doting husband. He could now treat Rose however he liked. 

And the Master liked to torture the Doctor. 

Which was probably why Rose now wore nothing but sleek, somewhat revealing dresses that emphasized just how the Master saw her – as a trophy. Today she wore a shiny red dress to match her lipstick. She looked beautiful, no doubt about it, but she didn’t look like Rose.

The Master continued to sing along to the music and dance around the room. When he noticed that Doctor wasn’t paying close enough attention, he grabbed him by his jacket and forced him into a wheelchair. He then proceeded to wheel the Doctor around the room, still singing along to the music. The Doctor didn’t have the strength to fight back, not in this old body. So he let the Master humiliate him. 

_One more day_ , he told himself. He had a plan and so far it was going as well as expected. The Master didn’t seem to have cottoned on yet and there had been no word that Martha had been caught or killed.

The Doctor didn’t know what he would have done if it wasn’t for Martha. It was his faith in her that kept him going some days.

‘It's ready to rise, Doctor,’ said the Master, pushing him so that they could look out of the window. A few Toclafane flew by. ‘The new Time Lord Empire. It's good, isn't it? Isn't it good? Anything? No? Anything?’ 

The Doctor didn’t respond to the taunts. 

The Master looked a bit put out for a moment before his expression changed to one of feigned sympathy. ‘Oh, but they broke your hearts, didn't they?’ he said. ‘Those Toclafane. Ever since you worked out what they really are.’ The Doctor still didn’t respond so he tried another tactic. ‘They say Martha Jones has come back home. Now why would she do that?’ 

‘Leave her alone,’ growled the Doctor before he could stop himself. 

‘You said something to her, didn't you? On the day I took control. What did you tell her?’

The Doctor didn’t answer; he just glared at the Master.

The Master held his glare for a moment before shrugging and pushing the wheelchair away. The Doctor braced himself as he collided with the wall. 

_Valiant now entering Zone One airspace. Citizens rejoice._

The tannoy announcement sufficiently distracted the Master enough for the Doctor to give Francine the signal unnoticed. He held three fingers against his thigh and Francine nodded as she left the room. It was almost time to fight back.

\----

As three o’clock neared, the Master walked into the flight deck. ‘Time for my massage,’ he announced. He had been having daily massages for the past few weeks now. They had become regular as clockwork.

‘Who shall I have today?’ asked the Master, rubbing his hand in indecision. ‘Tanya. Come on, sweetheart.’ He nodded to the young masseuse and took off his jacket, chucking it on the table. ‘Rose, have you met Tanya? She's gorgeous. Tanya, when we go to the stars, I'm going to take you to the Catriga Nova. Whirlpools of gold. You two should get to know each other. That might be fun.’ 

He sat down and groaned in pleasure when Tanya began to massage his shoulders. 

Rose's jaw tightened and the Doctor could see the hurt in her eyes. He had wondered many times over the past year, why the Master kept Rose as his wife if he wasn’t even going to be faithful to her. The answer, of course, was to torture the Doctor.

The clock clicked over to three o’clock. Showtime.

Suddenly, the lights began to dim in and out and an announcement came over the tannoy.

_Condition red. Repeat, condition red._

Jack and Clive had obviously succeeded in causing up a stir outside. 

Wasting no time, Francine grabbed the Master’s jacket that had been left on the table and threw it to Tish, who then threw it to the Doctor. With a speed unexpected of his aged body, he retrieved the Master’s laser screwdriver from the pocket and pointed it at its owner.

The Master, who had run up the stairs, turned at the noise of the screwdriver being activated. ‘Oh, I see,’ he said, putting his hands in the air. There was a tense silence for a moment before the Master lowered his hands and laughed.

The Doctor pressed the button on the screwdriver… and nothing happened.

He tried again – still nothing. 

‘Isomorphic controls,’ said the Master, almost pityingly as he took the device from the Doctor’s hands. He then backhanded him for good measure, sending the Doctor flying backwards towards the hard floor.

‘Which means,’ continued the Master, ignoring the Doctor’s groan of pain, ‘that they only work for me. Like this.’

He pointed the screwdriver at Francine and fired. The laser beam grazed her hand before it hit the wall in a shower of sparks. ‘Say sorry!’ he yelled at her. 

‘Sorry. Sorry. Sorry,’ growled Francine, holding her hand in pain. Tish ran over to help her mother. 

‘Didn't you learn anything from the blessed Saint Martha?’ He walked across the room and nodded at Rose, who quickly trotted over to him and helped him into his jacket. ‘Siding with the Doctor is a very dangerous thing to do. Take them away.’

The guards ushered the two Jones women out of the room. The alarm had stopped a while ago, the Doctor guessed that Clive and Jack had been overpowered.  
  
The Master lifted the Doctor into a chair. ‘Oh boy. There you go, Gramps.’ He sat on the table and spun the Doctor’s chair around with his foot. ‘Oh, do you know, I remember the days when the Doctor, oh, that famous Doctor, was waging a Time War, battling Sea Devils and Axons. He sealed the rift at the Medusa Cascade single-handed. And look at him now. Stealing screwdrivers. How did he ever come to this? Oh yeah, me.’ The Master laughed at his victory. 

‘I just need you to listen,’ said the Doctor, trying for one last-ditch effort to bring his childhood friend back.  
  
The Master leaned down at him angrily. ‘No, it's my turn. Revenge! Best served hot. And this time, it's a message for Miss Jones.’

\----

Martha ran across the yard, heading to the seemingly abandoned building. But she knew that it hadn't been completely abandoned. This was where Professor Alison Docherty was stationed. And Professor Docherty was vital to Martha’s mission.

It had been a long year, and Martha would be lying if she said that she hadn’t thought about giving up more than once. Walking the Earth was no easy task, especially with the Toclafane flying about at every corner, but above all, it was lonely.

So she was grateful to have a little company now.

Tom Milligan had met her at the shore under the cover of darkness and had given her safe passage to the shipyard they were now in. Tom’s status as a doctor gave him special access to drive around at night, making it easy to smuggle Martha past the Toclafane.

Martha liked Tom. He was nice, caring (even if he could be a bit pessimistic but who could blame him?), and quite fit too. In another life, Martha may have even fancied him.

She followed Tom into the building, a loud clanging was coming from across the room. A middle-aged woman was banging some device with her hands. Martha wasn’t sure if there was any productive purpose to her actions, or if she was just letting out some anger.

‘Professor Docherty?’ asked Tom. 

‘Busy,’ answered the Professor and, as they neared, Martha could see that it was television set that she had been bashing. 

‘They, er, they sent word ahead. I'm Tom Milligan. This is Martha Jones.’

The Professor didn’t look up to greet them; instead she grabbed a wire and tried to attach it to the back of the old TV. ‘She can be the Queen of Sheba for all I care. I'm still busy.’ 

‘Televisions don't work anymore,’ said Martha, nodding to the device. 

Professor Docherty sat back in her chair. ‘Oh God, I miss Countdown. Never been the same since Des took over. Both Deses. What's the plural for Des? Desi? Deseen? But we've been told there's going to be a transmission from the man himself.’ She began whacking the TV again and, to Martha’s surprise, the screen flickered to life.

‘There!’ shouted Docherty as the Master appeared on the screen. The picture was grainy and in black and white, but there was no mistaking the smug look on his face. 

‘My people,’ he said. ‘Salutations on this, the eve of war. Lovely woman. But I know there's all sorts of whispers down there. Stories of a child, walking the Earth, giving you hope. But I ask you, how much hope has this man got?’ He walked across the room, the camera following his movements, and stopped next to an old man sitting on a chair – the Doctor. ‘Say hello, Gandalf. Except he's not that old, but he's an alien with a much greater lifespan than you stunted little apes.’

The Master walked closer to the camera but the shot was still focused on the Doctor. Martha held her breath, awaiting the Master’s next move. Surely he wouldn’t kill him so soon before his victory. If Martha had learned one thing about the Master this past year, it was that he was a show-off. He had his face carved into Mount Rushmore for Christ sake! No, the Master wouldn’t kill the Doctor until he had shown him that he had won. And that moment wasn’t until tomorrow morning – Launch Day – the day where everybody would be looking to the sky, thinking the exact same thing. 

‘But what if it showed?’ continued the Mast on screen, holding up his screwdriver (the one he had used to age the Doctor). ‘What if I suspend your capacity to regenerate? All nine hundred years of your life, Doctor. What if we could see them?’

The Master pointed his screwdriver at the Doctor and he started to convulse. Martha willed herself not to close her eyes as the screams echoed out of the TV speaker.

‘Older and older and older,’ said the Master. ‘Down you go, Doctor. Down, down, down the years.’

Eventually, the screaming stopped and the Doctor was no longer sitting in the chair. An empty suit lay on the ground.

For a moment, Martha thought that he might actually be dead - that this whole year had been for nothing - but then the clothes began to move. A small creature with big sad eyes poked his head out from underneath the fabric. The Doctor!

The Master turned to face the camera. ‘Received and understood, Miss Jones?’

With a flicker of static, the broadcast ended. 

‘I'm sorry,’ said Tom, earnestly, but Martha just smiled. 

‘The Doctor's still alive.’

\----

The Doctor stared unseeingly out of the bars of the cage that the Master had put him in. Now that his body was the size of a Chihuahua, the Master had decided that a birdcage would make a more appropriate housing for him. A birdcage! And the Doctor had thought that he couldn’t have been humiliated more before. Trust the Master to go and prove him wrong.

 _One more day_.

The far door opened but the Doctor didn’t turn around. He knew who it was even before the Master started speaking.

‘Tomorrow, they launch,’ said the Master. ‘We're opening up a rift in the Braccatolian space. They won't see us coming. It kind of scary.’

The Doctor turned to face him and then had to fight the urge to hide in shame. Rose was there, looking at him with a curious expression. She had seen him as an old man, but this? This was something else.

The Doctor focused his attention on the Master. ‘Then stop,’ he said. 

‘Once the Empire is established, and there's a new Gallifrey in the heavens, maybe then it stops.’ 

The Master walked closer to the cage, a serious expression on his face. ‘The drumming. The never-ending drumbeat. Ever since I was a child. I looked into the vortex. That's when it chose me. The drumming, the call to war. Can't you hear it?’ He leant in so his nose was mere inches from the bars. ‘Listen, it's there now. Right now. Tell me you can hear it, Doctor. Tell me.’ 

‘It's only you,’ said the Doctor. 

The Master thought about it for a second. ‘Good,’ he whispered.

The door opened again and a single Toclafane entered. ‘Tomorrow, the war,’ it said in it’s childlike voice. That voice would haunt the Doctor's nightmares for decades, he was sure of it. ‘Tomorrow we rise, never to fall.’ 

‘You see?’ said the Master moving away from the cage. ‘I'm doing it for them. You should be grateful. After all, you love them so very, very much.’

The Doctor winced. He did love them once, long ago. Before the Master had manipulated them into destroying their own past. 

It taken a little while to figure out, and the Doctor almost wished he hadn’t tried. The truth was too heartbreaking. The Toclafane were human. They were the humans that had gotten onto that rocket at the end of the universe and headed for Utopia. But they never found it. And they lost hope.

Then the Master had come along and used that despair, manipulated them into taking back the Earth. That’s why he had cannibalised the TARDIS – to control the paradox.

‘You should have seen it Doctor,’ said the Master. ‘Furnaces burning. The last of humanity screaming at the dark. All that human invention that had sustained them across the eons. It all turned inward. They cannibalised themselves.’ 

‘We made ourselves so pretty,’ said the sphere. 

‘Regressing into children. But it didn't work. The universe was collapsing around them.’

‘And you used them,’ said the Doctor, accusingly.

‘I saved them,’ said the Master. ‘It wasn’t easy, I put a lot of effort into it, you know. You’ve seen my masterpiece.’

The Doctor winced again at the mention of his beloved time machine and what the Master had done to her.

‘A living TARDIS strong enough to hold the paradox in place, allowing the past and the future to collide in infinite majesty,’ said the Master, clearly proud of his horrific achievement. 

‘But you're changing history,’ said the Doctor. ‘Not just Earth, the entire universe.’ 

‘I’m a Time Lord. I have that right.’ 

‘But why come all this way just to destroy?’ 

This time it was the Toclafane that answered. ‘We come backwards in time all to build a brand new empire lasting one hundred trillion years.’  
  
‘With me as their master,’ added the Master. 

He walked over to Rose and put an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. ‘Time Lord and humans combined. Haven't you always dreamt of that, Doctor?’ Rose’s face was expressionless as the Master placed a kiss to her hair.

The Doctor looked at what had become of his best friend. There was no longer any spark of joy or adventure in her eyes - no hope. Now she was little more than a husk of her former self. And even if the Doctor’s plan worked, and he freed her from the Master’s influence, that pain wouldn’t go away. She’d still remember everything that had happened. And she’d remember it as herself, with her feelings, and her guilt. She’d never stay with him after that. How could she when it was all his fault?

The Doctor had always believed that if he kept Rose at arm’s length, and didn’t give in to those feelings that he had tried so hard to bury, that it would hurt less when she eventually left him. But with a crushing realisation, the Doctor now saw how wrong he had been. Nothing could possibly hurt more.

The metal sphere that had once been a human whizzed happily around the room. ‘The human race,’ said the Master, following it with his eyes. ‘Greatest monsters of them all.’


	36. Last of the Time Lords Part Two

The Master tied his dressing gown around his waist as he looked out of the porthole that was his bedroom window. In just a few short hours, all his hard work will come together and he would have his final victory.

He hadn’t been lying to the Doctor earlier; it hadn’t been easy. This planet had such primitive technology. He had managed to salvage some equipment from the year One Trillion, and there had been a few bits and pieces in the TARDIS that had been left over from making the paradox machine, but it had still taken him a whole year to accomplish his goal.

Still, at least he had been entertained. Making the Jones family watch Japan burn had been fun. And there was always Rose…

The Master turned and looked over at his wife’s sleeping form. She really was quite beautiful for a human.

He thought back to all the memories he had seen within her mind. It was terribly obvious how smitten the Doctor was with her, even before she had looked into the time vortex. The Master frowned at the thought. He still hadn’t been able to penetrate those memories; he suspected that Rose probably had little access to them herself.

Still, never mind. In the end, it didn’t really matter to him. He didn’t need to be able to see the whole of time and space, he just needed to rule it.

A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.

The Master strode angrily towards the door and yanked it open. How dare someone disturb him at this hour!

‘Sorry for the intrusion, my Lord,’ said the guard at the doorway. The Master opened his mouth to yell at the guard, or possibly sentence him to death, but stopped at the man’s next words. ‘But I bring news of the whereabouts of Martha Jones.’

And just like that, the Master’s anger turned into glee.

\----

The Doctor stared up at the roof of his cage. He was tired, so very tired, but he couldn’t bring himself to sleep. Partly because he was calculating every possible outcome for tomorrow, and partly because he was worried that if he let sleep take him now, he may not wake up.

The door to the flight deck opened and the Doctor rolled over with a groan. The Master, still in his pajamas, was making a show of creeping across the dark room.

The doctor sighed. This used to be a regular occurrence when he had first been captured. The Master would often come to him in the middle of the night and describe in excruciating detail what he and Rose had been getting up to in the confines of their bedroom. But it had been ages since the last time he had done that. The Doctor had hoped that the Master had gotten bored of it.

The first time it had happened, the Doctor had taken a swing for him. He missed and had gotten a black eye for his trouble, but he hadn’t cared at the time. The anger, and, if he was honest with himself, a little bit of jealousy, had been the only thing that he could think about.

But that only made the Master tell him more. Every night. Until the Doctor stopped reacting to it.

But now it seemed that the Master couldn’t resist torturing the Doctor one last time.

‘Guess what?’ whispered the Master as he approached the Doctor’s cage. ‘I found her.’

Ah, so he wasn’t there to gloat about his sex-life, he was here to gloat about overcoming the last hurdle in his rise to power. He had found Martha Jones. Little did he know that this was the beginning of his undoing.

‘Leave her alone,’ growled the Doctor, both as a threat and as an assurance that the Master wouldn’t try and kill Martha straight away. He was nothing if not a sadist. He would want the Doctor to see the death of his friend in person.

The Master smiled his usual childlike grin. ‘No.’

\----

Dawn broke, and with it, the Doctor let himself hope again. The plan had gone exactly to, well, plan. Aside from being turned into Dobby the house elf, of course, but that was a non-issue. Not long now, and everything would be back to normal. Well, almost everything.

‘Citizens of Earth, rejoice and observe,’ said the Master over the tannoy system and the doors of the flight deck opened to reveal Martha Jones. Two armed guards ushered her forward and she slowly marched to the centre of the room. The Doctor gave her a little smile of encouragement.

The Master had gone all out for this moment. All of the captured Jones' were on deck, as well as Jack and the Doctor. The Master and Rose stood on the top deck, overlooking the room. The Master looked at the scene with glee, but Rose had nothing but defeat in her eyes. Perhaps, even under the Master’s influence, she knew that her usefulness was coming to an end.

‘Your teleport device, in case you thought I'd forgotten,’ said the Master, holding out his hand. Martha threw the vortex manipulator to him and the Master caught it with ease. ‘And now, kneel.’

Martha did as she was told and the Master addressed the room. ‘Down below, the fleet is ready to launch. Two hundred thousand ships set to burn across the universe.’ He moved over to turn on a communication device. ‘Are we ready?’  

‘The fleet awaits your signal. Rejoice!’ came the answer, no doubt from one of the launch sites.  

The Master looked at his watch. ‘Three minutes to align the black hole converters. Counting down.’ The clock on the wall began to noisily count down the seconds. ‘I never could resist a ticking clock. My children, are you ready?’

The voice of the Toclafane filled the room. ‘We will fly and blaze and slice. We will fly and blaze and slice.’ 

‘At zero, to mark this day, the child Martha Jones, will die. My first blood. Any last words?’ Martha didn't rise to the Master’s taunt. ‘No? Such a disappointment, this one. Days of old, Doctor, you had companions who could absorb the time vortex.’ He spared a quick glance at Rose who was still standing at the top deck, clutching the railing so tightly her knuckles were white. He turned back to Martha and brandished his laser screwdriver. ‘This one's useless. Bow your head.’

Martha silently obeyed. 

‘And so it falls to me as Master of all, to establish from this day, a new order of Time Lords. From this day forward…’ He stopped as he realised that Martha was shaking with suppressed laughter. ‘What? What's so funny?’  

‘A gun,’ said Martha, raising her head to look at him. 

The Doctor had heard about her cover story for walking the Earth. A gun in four parts, scattered across the globe, that when put together, could permanently kill a Time Lord. Quite clever, really.  

‘What about it?’ asked the Master, impatiently.

‘A gun in four parts?’  

‘Yes, and I destroyed it.’  

‘A gun in four parts scattered across the world? I mean, _come on_ , did you really believe that?’

‘What do you mean?’ 

The Doctor almost laughed at the confused look on the Master’s face. ‘As if I would ask her to kill,’ he said, standing up in his cage.  

‘Oh well, it doesn't matter,’ said the Master. ‘I've got her exactly where I want her.’  
   
‘But I knew what Professor Docherty would do,’ said Martha. ‘The Resistance knew about her son. I told her about the gun, so she'd get me here at the right time.’  
   
The Master looked a little worried but tried to shrug it off. ‘Oh, but you're still going to die.’  

‘Don't you want to know what I was doing, travelling the world?’

‘Tell me,’ said the Master, trying to pass off his curiosity as him humouring her.  

‘I told a story, that's all. No weapons, just words. I did just what the Doctor said. I went across the continents all on my own. And everywhere I went, I found the people, and I told them my story. I told them about the Doctor. I told them to pass it on, to spread the word so that everyone would know about the Doctor.’

The Doctor smiled at his friend. He had never been prouder.   

‘Faith and hope?’ scoffed the Master. ‘Is that all?’  

‘No, because I gave them an instruction, just as the Doctor said.’ She stood up, her voice becoming more resolved, more victorious by the second. ‘I told them that if everyone thinks of one word, at one specific time…’ 

‘Nothing will happen,’ said the Master. ‘Is that your weapon? Prayer?’

‘Right across the world,’ continued Martha as the clock clicked down the final seconds of the countdown, ‘one word, just one thought at one moment but with _fifteen satellites_.’

The Master’s face paled as he realised what Martha had done. ‘What?’

‘The Archangel Network,’ said Jack.  

‘A telepathic field binding the whole human race together, with all of them, every single person on Earth, thinking the same thing at the same time. And that word… is Doctor.’

The clock clicked down to zero and the Doctor felt the warmth of the telepathic energy as he began to glow. 

‘Stop it,’ cried the Master. ‘No, no, no, no, you don't.’

But it was too late. The view on the monitors showed people in the streets, all chanting the same word. _Doctor_.

‘Stop this right now. Stop it!’ shouted the Master as the Doctor began to de-age.

The people in the room began to chant too. Martha, Jack, Francine, Clive, Tish, they were all chanting his name. The Doctor glanced at Rose and felt a surge of hope when she too joined in with the chant.  
   
‘I've had a whole year to tune myself into the psychic network and integrate with its matrices,’ he explained.  

‘I order you to stop!’ shouted the Master, but it was no use. The crowds were still chanting, and the Doctor was now back to his youthful self. 

‘The one thing you can't do,’ he told the Master. ‘Stop them thinking. Tell me the human race is degenerate now, when they can do this.’

Martha ran to her family, her part in the plan completed.  
   
‘No!’ shouted the Master, firing a laser beam at the Doctor but the bolt bounced off the energy field surrounding him. 

The Doctor lifted his hand, willing the weapon out of the Master’s reach. The screwdriver flew across the room and the Master looked back at the Doctor in fear. ‘You can't do this,' he shouted. 'You can't do it. It's not fair!’

The Doctor floated down to the floor and the blue energy faded. ‘It’s over,’ he told the Master, angrily stalking towards him. He wasn’t quite sure what he would do when he reached him. However much he hated the man, he couldn’t kill him. That would make him the only Time Lord left and he couldn’t do that. Not again.

‘My children,’ whispered the Master and the Doctor stopped.

The voice of the Toclafane filled the room again. 'Protect the paradox. Protect the paradox. Protect the paradox.'  
   
The Doctor turned to Jack. ‘Captain, the paradox machine!’

Jack nodded and then turned to the guards who had moments ago been willing to shoot him. ‘You men, with me!’ The guards obeyed without question and Jack led the way to the TARDIS.

Out of the corner of his eye the Doctor saw the Master move. He turned to see him activating the vortex manipulator he had taken from Martha. ‘No!’ he shouted, lunging at the Master. He was not going to let him get away that easily!

The Doctor grabbed hold of him just as he hit the last button and a flash of light engulfed them both.

\----

The Doctor got to his feet, careful not to slip on the loose rocks scattered around him. It seemed that the Master had taken them to a quarry (damn, and he had been so good at avoiding them lately).

The Master stood at the edge of the cliff, arms spread wide. ‘Now it ends, Doctor,’ he shouted. ‘Now it ends!’

‘We've got control of the Valiant,’ said the Doctor. ‘You can't launch.’  

‘Oh, but I've got this.’ The Master held up a small device. ‘Black hole converter inside every ship. If I can't have this world, Doctor, then neither can you. We shall stand upon this Earth together, as it burns.’

The Doctor wasn’t buying it. The Master was all about survival, killing himself wasn’t something he would consider.

But then again… this regeneration did seem to be a tad more unpredictable than the others.

‘Weapon after weapon after weapon,’ he said, calmly. He slowly started to walk towards the Master. ‘All you do is talk and talk and talk. But over all these years and all these disasters, I've always had the greatest secret of them all. I know you. Explode those ships, you kill yourself. That's the one thing you can never do.’ He held out his hand for the detonation device. ‘Give that to me.’

The Master stared at the device for a moment, but reluctantly admitted defeat. He handed it over to the Doctor.

The Doctor was just about to ask for the vortex manipulator, when the ground shook, sending both men to their knees. The Master made an attempt to activate the teleport but the Doctor was too quick for him. He grabbed the Master’s wrist and held him to the ground as he typed in the coordinates for the Valiant. With another flash of blue light, they left the quarry.

\----

When they reappeared back on the Valiant, it was chaos. Papers were flying around in the air and the ship was shaking so violently that the passengers were being thrown to the floor.

The Doctor managed to catch Martha as she went flying across the room.

He quickly looked around the flight deck – no spheres. Jack must have destroyed the paradox machine. He looked down at Martha and smiled proudly at her.

‘Everyone get down!’ shouted the Doctor as he pulled them both to the ground. ‘Time is reversing!’

The Doctor gritted his teeth against the strange sensation, and instead focused on locating Rose. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her on the floor next to Francine.

After a minute or two, the winds stopped and the Valiant stilled.

The Doctor tentatively got to his feet and held his hand out to help Martha. Once she was standing, he ran to the monitors to make sure that everything had gone according to plan. It had. ‘The paradox is broken,’ he said. ‘We've reverted back, one year and one day. Two minutes past eight in the morning.’

He flicked a switch and a voice came over the communications link. ‘This is UNIT Central. What's happened up there? We just saw the President assassinated.’

‘Just after the President was killed, but just before the spheres arrived. Everything back to normal. Planet Earth restored. None of it happened. The rockets, the terror. It never was.’  

‘What about the spheres?’ asked Martha.  

‘Trapped at the end of the universe.’  

‘But I can remember it,’ said Francine. Everyone had gotten to their feet now.  

‘We're at the eye of the storm,’ explained the Doctor. ‘The only ones who'll ever know.’

The Master made a run for the door but didn’t get very far. Jack, with impeccable timing, opened the door from the other side just as he reached it. There was no time to stop. ‘Whoa, big fella!’ said Jack as the Master skidded into him. ‘You don't want to miss the party.’

Jack took a set of handcuffs from one of the guards and cuffed the Master and marched him to the centre of the room. ‘So, what do we do with this one?’ he asked the Doctor.  

‘We kill him,’ said Clive.  

‘We execute him,’ agreed Tish.  

‘No, that's not the solution,’ said the Doctor with a little difficulty. Killing the Master was _a_ solution, but not the right one.  

‘Oh, I think so,’ said Francine and the Doctor turned to see her pointing a gun at the Master. ‘Because all those things, they still happened because of him. I saw them.’  

‘Go on. Do it,’ said the Master, baiting her.  

‘Francine, you're better than him,’ said the Doctor, moving towards her.

Francine’s hand started to shake as she began to cry. She dropped the gun and the Doctor pulled her in for a quick hug before handing her over to Martha.  

‘You still haven't answered the question,’ said the Master. ‘What happens to me?’  

The Doctor thought about it. He couldn’t kill him but he couldn’t just let him go. And the Master was resourceful enough to be able to escape almost any prison in the universe. No, the Doctor would have to keep a constant eye on him.

But what about Rose? He couldn’t force her into a life of being constantly reminded of the past year and everything the Master had done to her. But then, she wouldn’t want to stay with him now anyway, not after all this.

‘You're my responsibility from now on,’ he told the Master. ‘The only other Time Lord left in existence.’  

Jack walked over to the Doctor. ‘Yeah, but you can't trust him,’ he half-whispered. 

‘No,’ agreed the Doctor. ‘The only safe place for him is the TARDIS.’

‘You mean you're just going to keep me?’ said the Master.

‘If that's what I have to do.’ 

A shot echoed around the room and the Master stumbled backwards. The Doctor turned, wide-eyed, to see Rose holding the gun. He met her eyes and saw the fear in them as she dropped the weapon.

She brought her hands to her face as the realisation of what she had just done hit her. ‘I didn’t mean… I just couldn’t… Doctor.’

The Doctor all but ran over to her when he heard his name. Rose, the real Rose, was back. He wrapped his arms around her and held her as she started to cry. Part of him wanted to catalogue every detail because he knew this would be the last time he got to hold her, the other part of him just wanted her to be okay. 

‘Always the women,’ muttered the Master from the ground and the Doctor reluctantly let Rose go and walked over to him.

‘Don’t be so melodramatic,’ he said. ‘You're not dying. It's only a bullet. Just regenerate.’

Then the Master surprised everyone with one word. ‘No.’  

‘What?’ asked the Doctor. ‘It’s just one little bullet. Regenerate.’

‘I guess you don't know me so well,’ said the Master. ‘I refuse.’

‘But you have to, we’re the only ones left,’ tried the Doctor, starting to panic a little. ‘Regenerate.’ 

‘And spend the rest of my life imprisoned with you? I don’t think so.’ The Doctor’s fear and disbelief must have shown on his face because the Master’s lips curled up into a smile. ‘How about that? I win.’ 

His smile vanished and he groaned in pain. He didn’t have long left. ‘Will it stop, Doctor? The drumming. Will it stop?’ And with one final breath, the Master closed his eyes.

The Doctor waited a moment, trying to will the regeneration energy into existence, but it never came. The Master had actually done it. He had let himself die.

And now the Doctor was alone again.

Despite everything the Master had done, the Doctor still didn’t want him to die, and not just because it meant that he was once again the last of his species. He and the Master had been friends once – a long time ago. He had many fond memories of him, as well as bad ones.

A single tear ran down the Doctor’s cheek as he looked down at the body of his childhood friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry to those who were hoping for Rose to wake up and kick some ass but I went down a more angsty route. Partly because I'm a sucker for angst (although my season four rewrite is going to be a lot happier), and partly because I didn't want to take away Martha's victory.
> 
> Anyways, part three should be up tomorrow and then it's just Voyage of the Damned to go until I've finished this fic. Then on to season four!


	37. Last of the Time Lords Part Three

_Rose handed the Master the detonation device that would destroy Tokyo. He took it from her and placed a grateful kiss on her hand. The Master pressed a button on the device and the city below went up in flames. She could hear the people screaming in agony as they burnt with their homes._

_Rose wanted to scream too, but she couldn’t. She should have crushed the detonation device while she had the chance, but she had just handed it over without hesitation. She might as well have pressed the button herself._

‘Rose! Rose!’

Rose sat up with a start, silencing her screams. She slowly opened her eyes and let out a sob of relief when she realised she was on the TARDIS. Jack was sitting next to her, holding her steady.

‘Sorry,’ she mumbled. ‘Another nightmare.’ 

This had been the fifth nightmare since she had gone to bed. Each time she remembered something different: another life she had helped destroy; another city she had watched burn; another kiss shared with the man who had orchestrated it all.

‘It’s okay,’ said Jack. He was concerned, of course he was. Every time she had woken up, he had been there. Good old Jack. Rose was extremely grateful for his kindness, but she couldn’t help wondering why it was him comforting her and not the Doctor.

The Doctor had been there after the first nightmare. He had stood at the doorway as Jack had cradled her as she cried, his face a mixture of concern, guilt, and anger. She knew he felt just as guilty as she did for what had happened, but why could he barely look at her? Maybe he hadn’t forgiven her for shooting the Master. She wouldn’t blame him. After all, she had just killed his last hope of not being the last of his kind.

Slowly, Jack lowered her back down to the bed. ‘I know it’s hard, but try to sleep,' he said. 'The Doc says that it’s the best thing for overcoming this level of mind control.’

‘Doesn’t feel like it,’ mumbled Rose, but she let herself drift back into slumber. She really was incredibly tired.

\----

The Doctor had been repairing the TARDIS for a day now, and he was almost finished. Jack had helped but he quite often had to leave to wake Rose from her nightmares. The Doctor wanted more than anything to be the one to comfort her but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Rose would prefer it to be Jack, anyway, he reasoned. Jack hadn’t been the cause of her year of torture.

So instead the Doctor focused on the task at hand. 

He had been working on the TARDIS almost non-stop since the Valiant had landed. Once night had fallen, he had taken the Master’s body and given him a proper Gallifreyan funeral, but on his return, he had straight away dived back under the TARDIS console, eager to get her working and away from the planet that he had spent the last year watching burn.

Jack returned from Rose’s room. ‘How is she?’ asked the Doctor.

‘She’s still a little shaky. But you know our Rose, she’ll bounce back.’

‘Yeah, course she will,’ said the Doctor but he doubted that Jack had been fooled by his false optimism.

A couple of hours later, Martha had returned and the TARDIS was ready to fly.

‘First stop, Cardiff,’ said Jack. ‘Time for me to get back.’

The Doctor nodded. He still didn’t like the idea of Torchwood still being around but he trusted Jack. If he said that his team were different, then the Earth would be lucky to have them.

The time rotor began to move and the familiar wheezing noise of the TARDIS engines filled the room. ‘Oh, I have missed that sound!’ said Martha, looking up at the central column.

‘You fixed her,’ said a small voice from across the room. The Doctor swallowed hard before turning to face Rose. She was still in the tank top and pajama bottoms that she had worn to bed but her hair had been brushed and it looked like she had had a shower. She looked much more refreshed but her eyes still showed the weight of the past year.

Martha ran over to her and gave her a tight hug. ‘How are you feeling?’ she asked. 'You should be getting some sleep.'

Rose gave her a weak smile. ‘I'll be fine,’ she said. 'I just... can't sleep right now. So, where are we going?’

‘Taking me home,’ said Jack. ‘Back to Cardiff.’

The TARDIS stilled as she landed and Jack looked uncertainly towards the doors. ‘I really don't mind, though,’ said the Doctor. ‘Stay. Come with me.’ 

Jack looked back at him. ‘I had plenty of time to think that past year, the year that never was, and I kept thinking about that team of mine. Like you said, Doctor, responsibility.’

The Doctor nodded his understanding. ‘Defending the Earth. Can't argue with that.’ 

He walked over and shook his friend’s hand. But before he let go, he used his sonic screwdriver to deactivate the vortex manipulator that was on Jack’s wrist.  
  
‘Hey, I need that!’  
  
‘I can't have you walking around with a time travelling teleport. You could go anywhere. Twice. Second time to apologise.’ Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rose smile at that. Maybe she would be okay after all. 

‘And what about me?’ asked Jack. ‘Can you fix that? Will I ever be able to die?’ 

‘Nothing I can do, sorry. You're an impossible thing, Jack.’ 

Jack laughed. ‘Been called that before.’ 

‘I’m so sorry, Jack,’ said Rose.

Martha stepped back to give Jack room as he walked over to hug Rose. ‘I'll be okay, Rose. It’s not your fault.’ He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before turning to the Doctor and Martha. ‘Sir. Ma'am,’ he said as he saluted them.

He started to leave and was almost at the door before he turned back around. ‘But I keep wondering. What about aging? Because I can't die but I keep getting older. The odd little grey hair, you know? What happens if I live for a million years?’ 

‘I really don't know,’ said the Doctor.  
  
‘Okay, vanity. Sorry, can't help it. Used to be a poster boy when I was a kid living on the Boeshane Peninsula. Tiny little place. I was the first one ever to be signed up for the Time Agency. They were so proud of me. The Face of Boe, they called me.’

The Doctor’s jaw dropped and he was sure that Martha and Rose wore the same expression. 

Jack didn’t seem to notice. ‘I'll see you,’ he said as he walked out the doors.

‘He’s not,’ said Rose, walking up to join the Doctor and Martha at the console.

‘No,’ said the Doctor in disbelief, still staring at the door. 

‘It can't be,’ added Martha. 

‘No. Definitely not. No. No.’

Martha started to laugh and then Rose joined in. The Doctor snapped out of this trance and turned to look at the pair. It was almost like nothing had happened.

The spell was broken when Rose saw him watching them and her laughter slowly faded. The Doctor turned back to the console to hide the hurt in his eyes. ‘So, I suppose we should go check on the Jones’,’ he said. ‘Leo is bound to be back by now.’

Martha nodded eagerly. ‘I never thought I would miss my stupid brother so much,’ she joked.

\----

The Doctor waited outside the TARDIS while Martha checked on her family. Francine looked out the window and caught his eye. He gave her a small smile which she returned.

Sighing, he went back inside the TARDIS. He couldn’t avoid Rose forever.

‘How are they?’ asked Rose as he approached the console.

‘As well as can be expected,’ said the Doctor. There was an awkward silence before he spoke again. ‘And what about you?’

‘I’m all right,’ said Rose but the Doctor wasn’t having it.

‘Rose…’

‘Or, I will be,’ she amended. ‘I just can’t stop thinking about everything I did. I let him kill so many people, I helped him.’

‘No, don’t do that,’ said the Doctor, unconsciously moving over to her and placing his hands on her shoulders. ‘This is not your fault. All those deaths never happened.’

‘But they did. We may have undone them but it doesn’t change the fact that I stood there in fancy dresses as the world burned.’

‘That wasn’t you. The Master did that to you. He killed all those people, not you. You’re not a murderer.’

‘I am, though.’ The conviction in her eyes made the Doctor pause in confusion before he realised what she meant. ‘I killed the Master. And I know he deserved it, but I shouldn’t have. He was cuffed and unarmed and I just shot him.’

‘You were still coming out of his control. You didn’t know what you were doing.’

‘Maybe,’ said Rose, uncertainly.

‘And you didn’t make him refuse to regenerate,’ added the Doctor. 

Rose winced at that. ‘He was the only other Time Lord left. I’m s-’

Rose was cut off by Martha walking through the door. The Doctor turned to look at her and knew straight away that this was goodbye. He could see it in her eyes.

‘I just can't,’ said Martha. 

The Doctor nodded. ‘Yeah.’ After all, he knew this was going to happen... and he couldn’t really blame her. 

‘Spent all these years training to be a doctor,’ said Martha. ‘Now I've got people to look after. They saw half the planet slaughtered and they're devastated. I can't leave them.’ 

‘Of course not.’ He looked up at her - brilliant Martha Jones - the woman who walked the Earth and defeated the Master. ‘Thank you. Martha Jones, you saved the world.’

Martha walked up to him and gave him a hug. 

‘Yes, I did,’ she said as she pulled away. ‘I spent a lot of time with you two thinking I was second best, but you know what? I am good.’

She smiled at the Doctor before moving over to give Rose a hug too. ‘Thank you,’ said Rose. ‘For everything.’ 

‘You going to be all right?’ asked Martha. 

Both Rose and the Doctor nodded, though each knew it would be a while before they would be anywhere near “all right”.

‘Now listen,' said Martha, 'you had better not change your number because I will be calling and you had better come running. Got it?’

Rose laughed a little at that. ‘Yes ma’am.’

‘Good.’ Martha nodded at them both and walked to the doors. ‘I'll see you again,’ she said before opening them and walking out of the TARDIS and back to her human life.

The Doctor stared at the doors sadly for a moment before moving to the controls, sending the TARDIS away from London. ‘So, where do you want me to drop you off?’ he asked Rose, not daring to look up at her. 'You could stay with Sarah Jane, I’m sure she won’t mind.’ 

‘You want me to leave?’ asked Rose and the Doctor reluctantly looked up to face her. She looked… hurt? Surely she didn’t still want to stay with him?

‘I thought that, after everything I’ve put you through, you would want to leave.’

‘Of course I don’t want to leave. I promised you forever.’

‘But-’ 

‘What happened with the Master wasn’t your fault,' she said, cutting him off. 'I don’t blame you.’

‘You really mean it, don’t you?’

It wasn’t a question, not really. The Doctor could see it now (and wondered how he had not seen it before), Rose really did want to stay with him. Forever. Without thinking, he strode over to her and cupped her face in his hands. He paused as the familiar feeling of doubt reared its ugly head again. 

‘Doctor?’ asked Rose, uncertainly. 

Making up his mind, he leant down to press his lips to hers. 

She didn’t respond to the kiss at first and he started to pull away, already chiding himself for being such an idiot, but then she grabbed the lapels of his suit and pulled him back, vanquishing any doubts he had left. It was still a relatively chaste kiss, neither of them had the energy to turn it into anything more, but it signified something that the Doctor had never dared to hope for - forgiveness.

The Doctor pulled away and leant his forehead against Rose’s. ‘Is this still what you want?’ he asked and he felt Rose nod against his forehead. ‘Good because I've had a lot of time to think about all the chances I let slip by, all the things I should have done, and I don’t want to waste anymore time.’

Rose smiled up at him. ‘Me neither. But, Doctor, if we’re gonna make a proper go of it, then there’s one thing that I have to make clear. No more lies. No matter how good the intention, no matter how much it hurts, we do not lie to each other.’ 

The Doctor pulled away slightly so he could look her in the eyes properly. ‘No more lies,’ he agreed.

He moved in to kiss her again (God, how had he resisted the temptation for so long?) but, just before their lips met, a foghorn sounded and the TARDIS shook. Both the Doctor and Rose fell to the floor.

‘You all right?’ the Doctor asked Rose, crawling over to where she had landed.

‘I’m fine,’ she said, staring at something behind him, disbelief written all over her face.

The Doctor turned to see the reason for her surprise. There was a ship half way through the wall of the console room. A proper, Earth ship! One that went in the ocean.

‘What?’ 

He must have accidentally materialised in the middle of the ocean. And the shields were still down from fixing the TARDIS earlier.

‘What happened?’ asked Rose. ‘Are we out at sea?’

The Doctor spotted a life preserver on the floor of the TARDIS. He scrambled over to it and turned it over. ‘What?’ he said again, more worried now.

‘Doctor is that…’ said Rose, reading the name on the life preserver.

The Doctor nodded as he looked down at the single word. _Titanic._


	38. Voyage of the Damned Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about wait on this one but it turned out to be quite a bit longer than expected. Plus, I am currently in the middle of moving to the other side of the country, so that may have slowed me down a little too.

The Doctor jumped up from the floor and ran to the console. ‘We crashed into the Titanic?’ asked Rose, still staring at the life preserver in shock.

The Doctor twisted a few knobs before moving to the crank and turning it quickly. The massive ship seemed to move backwards out of the room and the TARDIS wall sealed itself up again.

‘But how did it get through the wall, though?’ asked Rose, getting up and joining the Doctor at the console. ‘You said the TARDIS was indestructible.’

The Doctor pulled at his ear awkwardly. ‘Well, she’s been through a lot recently. Plus, I may have forgotten to put the shields back up,’ he added quickly. ‘Still, never mind. All fixed now.’

‘But what about the Titanic? Crashing into a time machine that’s bigger on the inside can’t be good for it.’ Rose eyes widened. ‘Oh my God, are we the iceberg?’

‘No,’ said the Doctor. ‘No, no, no, of course not… Still, we had better have a look anyway.’ 

He set the course for the ship they had just crashed into and the sound of the TARDIS engines filled the room.

Just a quick check, he told himself. Just to make sure they hadn’t interfered with history and then they would be out of there. The last thing he and Rose needed at the moment was to be stuck on the bleedin' Titanic. Not after the year they had just had.

When the TARDIS landed, the Doctor insisted that he be the one to go out first. Cautiously he peeked his head out the door and looked around. So far, so good. Nothing seemed to be shaking or tilting on a ninety degree angle.

He slowly stepped out of the TARDIS and Rose followed.

They opened a door and stepped into an elegant room filled with people in Edwardian ball gowns and suits. Exactly the sort of thing you would expect from the Titanic… except for the golden angel statues standing on either side of the other doorway. They were a bit odd.

The Doctor was contemplating on this when Rose tapped him on the shoulder. ‘I’m not an expert or anything… but I thought the passengers on the Titanic would be a bit more human.’

The Doctor furrowed his brow in confusion. What was she talking about? Everyone looked perfectly human. He turned and looked in the direction she was pointing. A small spiky red alien dressed in the same kind of suit as the other passengers was talking to dark haired lady. 

Oh, that’s what she was talking about.

The Doctor took Rose’s hand (God, how he had missed being able to do that) and led her to a window. ‘Right,’ he said in understanding as he looked out at the stars.

‘Attention all passengers,’ said a voice over the tannoy system. ‘The Titanic is now in orbit above Sol Three, also known as Earth. Population, Human. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Christmas.’

‘It’s a spaceship!’ said Rose. ‘Why would anyone name a spaceship after the Titanic?’

‘Maybe they’ve never heard of it?’ said the Doctor. ‘Could be a coincidence.’ Rose raised an eyebrow. ‘Okay, probably not,’ he admitted, 'but it’s not our problem. Everyone is fine and having a great time so let’s get back to the TARDIS.’

‘But we can’t leave. Something is definitely fishy about this. And we still don't know if we caused the ship any damage.’

The Doctor could tell that Rose wasn’t going to let this go. He couldn’t really blame her, he was just as curious.

‘Fine, I’ll have a quick look around,’ he said. ‘But you go back to the TARDIS.’

‘No way,’ said Rose.

‘Rose, you were under the Master’s control for over a year, that puts a strain on the mind. Now is not the best time for a fancy party.’ 

‘No, but it looks like we’re going to one anyway. I’m not leaving you alone on the Titanic.’

The Doctor sighed dramatically as he gave in. ‘Fine,’ he said, ‘but we had better change.’

Rose looked down at her pyjamas. ‘Yeah, you’re right. I wondered why I was getting funny looks. Don’t exactly look the part, do I?’

The Doctor’s lip curled up into a smile as he looked her over. He thought she looked adorable… apart from the dark circles under her eyes and the tired way she was holding her shoulders. The Doctor’s smile fell, he really didn’t like the idea of a possible running-for-their-lives sort of trip while she was still recovering from their last one.

‘Come on, let’s go,’ said Rose, pulling on his hand and leading them back the way they came. ‘You can wear that tuxedo.’

‘You want me to wear the Tuxedo of Doom? On the Titanic!’ 

‘It’s a perfectly good suit,’ said Rose as they walked back into the TARDIS. ‘Besides, I think you look quite handsome in it.’ And with that, she left to go get changed, leaving the Doctor staring dumbly after her.

Maybe the tuxedo wasn’t _that_ bad.

\----

Fifteen minutes later, the Doctor and Rose re-entered the dining room in more appropriate attire. The Doctor had decided to risk the Tuxedo of Doom and was fiddling with his bowtie.

‘Stop playing with it,’ said Rose. ‘It looks fine.’ 

‘I know. It just feels odd.’

Rose gave him a stern look and his hand fell back to his side. Once satisfied that he was going to leave the tie alone, she turned away from him to look around the room.

The Doctor took the opportunity to properly notice what she was wearing. She had not gone with a dress this time, instead she wore a light blue long-sleeve top with a long black skirt. After seeing her as “Rose Saxon” for a year, it was so good to see her look more like herself again. 

‘So where do we start?’’ she asked, bringing him out of his thoughts.

The Doctor did a quick sweep of the room and noticed a screen over near a light display of a boat. ‘Let’s try that,’ he said.

He took Rose’s hand and led her over to the screen. With a push of a button, a sort of advertisement started to play. A small, bald man with a moustache and bright blue eyes was sitting behind a desk. ‘Max Capricorn Cruiseliners,’ he said. ‘The fastest, the farthest, the best. And I should know because my name is Max.’ He smiled at the camera, revealing his teeth, one of which was golden. The gold tooth glinted in the light and the image returned to the ship's logo screen.

‘Well now we know who,’ said Rose. ‘We just have to find out why.’

‘Merry Christmas,’ said a steward as they walked away from the screen.

‘Merry Christmas,’ replied the Doctor and Rose in unison.

The Doctor looked around the room again. Everything seemed to be fine, people were happily dancing to Christmas carols and laughing amongst themselves (except for one guy who seemed to be attached by the ear to his mobile phone), but he still had that horrible feeling that something was coming. His eyes rested on the golden angel statues that had caught his attention when they had first boarded the ship. Now that he knew that this was a spaceship and not the original Titanic, they made more sense. They were most likely some sort of information outlet.

He silently led Rose to one of the statues and a quick glance out of the corner of his eye told him that she didn’t understand their function. ‘Information hosts,’ he whispered, hoping that his hunch was correct. It would be a bit embarrassing if they just turned out to be strange decorations.

‘Evening,’ he said to the information-host-thing. ‘Passengers fifty seven and fifty eight. Terrible memory. Remind us. You would be?’ 

‘Information,’ replied the statue and the Doctor smiled, happy to avoid any embarrassment. He didn’t usually care too much about making an idiot of himself in front of Rose - Lord knows he had done so many times before - but now that they had officially started a “relationship” (and wasn’t that a scary word), he seemed a bit more worried about it.

‘Heavenly Host supplying tourist information,’ continued the Host.

‘Good,’ nodded the Doctor. ‘So, um, tell me, because I'm an idiot, where are we from?’ 

‘Information. The Titanic is en route from the planet Sto in the Cassavalian Belt. The purpose of the cruise is to experience primitive cultures.’

‘Why is it called the Titanic?’ asked Rose.  
  
‘Information. It was chosen as the most famous vessel of the planet Earth.’  
  
‘Did they tell you why it was famous?’ asked the Doctor. 

‘Information. All designations are chosen by Mister Max Capricorn, president of Max, Max, Max…’ The Host’s voice started to get higher with every repeat of Max Capricorn’s name. It started to twitch and the steward came running over.

‘Bit of a glitch,’ said the Doctor, reaching for his sonic screwdriver. 

‘It's all right, sir,’ replied the steward, ‘we can handle this.’

Two more men appeared and the steward switched off the still stuttering Host. ‘Software problem, that's all,’ he said as the Host was taken away. ‘Leave it with us, sir. Merry Christmas.’

The Doctor distinctly heard him whisper to one of the men as they took the host away. ‘That's another one down. What's going on with these things?’ 

‘Do you think it really was just a software glitch?’ asked Rose.

‘Maybe,’ said the Doctor, thoughtfully, looking around at the other Hosts in the room. He unconsciously pulled Rose a little closer to him.

A loud clang and a shattering noise from across the room caught their attention and they turned to see a man yelling at a waitress as she picked up glass from the floor. ‘You'll be sorry when it comes off your wages, sweetheart,’ he said, angrily. ‘Staffed by idiots. No wonder Max Capricorn's going down the drain.’

The rude man walked away, his phone already back up to his ear.

‘Prick,’ muttered Rose and she let go of the Doctor’s hand and walked over to help the waitress. 

The Doctor followed suit and picked up a bit of the broken glass. ‘There we go,’ he said as he put it carefully on the tray.

‘Thank you, sir,’ said the waitress. ‘I can manage.’ 

‘I never said you couldn't. I'm the Doctor, by the way, and this is Rose.’ 

‘Astrid, sir. Astrid Peth.’ 

‘Nice to meet you, Astrid Peth. Merry Christmas.’ 

‘Merry Christmas, sir,’ she turned to Rose, ‘ma’am.’

‘Merry Christmas,’ said Rose with a smile that didn’t quite meet her eyes. She must have still been feeling drained from coming out of the Master’s control. She really shouldn’t have been out here. The Doctor made a mental note to try and convince her to go back to the TARDIS again later and then turned his attention back to Astrid. 

‘Just Doctor,’ he said. ‘Not sir.’ 

‘You enjoying the cruise?’ asked Astrid. 

The Doctor and Rose glanced at each other. ‘Yeah, I suppose,’ answered the Doctor just as Rose said that it was great.

Astrid looked between the two. ‘Honeymoon?’ she asked.

‘Oh, no. no, no,’ said the Doctor and he was glad to see that Rose was also shaking her head in denial. It was way too early in their relationship (there’s that word again) to be thinking about _that_.

‘What about you?’ Rose asked the waitress. ‘Where are you from?’

‘Sto,’ answered Astrid. 

‘Long way from home, then,’ said the Doctor and Astrid nodded. 

‘Doesn't feel that different. I spent three years working at the spaceport diner, travelled all the way here and I'm still waiting on tables.’

Rose laughed a little. ‘I understand that feeling.’

The Doctor looked at her in mock hurt. ‘I take you to plenty of different places,’ he said. ‘Totally different from home.’

‘Except when I’m a dinner lady or working at a shop in 1969,’ said Rose and the Doctor backed down. She had him there. Rose turned back to Astrid ‘No holidays or shore leave or anything?’ 

Astrid shook her head and they walked over to the nearby window where a magnificent view of the Earth below awaited them. ‘We're not allowed,’ she said as she picked up some empty glasses and put them on her tray. ‘They can't afford the insurance. I just wanted to try it, just once. I used to watch the ships heading out to the stars and I always dreamt of-’ She cut herself off and shook her head. ‘It sounds daft.’ 

‘You dreamt of another sky,’ said the Doctor in understanding. ‘New sun, new air, new life. A whole universe teeming with life. Why stand still when there’s all that life out there?’

‘I know that feeling as well,’ said Rose and this time her smile did reach her eyes. Oh, he had missed that smile. 

‘So, you travel a lot?’ asked Astrid. 

The Doctor pulled his eyes away from Rose to pay attention to Astrid. ‘All the time,’ he said after a moment of trying to remember what she had asked him. ‘Just for fun. Well, that's the plan. Never quite works.’

‘Must be rich, though,’ said Astrid. 

‘Haven't got a penny. Stowaway,’ he added at Astrid’s confused look. 

‘Kidding,’ she said. 

‘Seriously.’ 

‘No.’

‘Oh, yeah.’ 

‘How did you get on board?’ 

‘Accident,’ said the Doctor. ‘I've got this, sort of, ship thing. I was just rebuilding her. Left the defences down. Bumped into the Titanic. Here we are.’ 

‘I should report you,’ said Astrid.

‘But you’re not going to,’ said Rose, smiling at the waitress. 

Astrid smiled back. ‘I'll get you a drink on the house,’ she whispered and she walked away.

‘I think she may be the best waitress I’ve ever had,’ said Rose. 'I could do with a free drink.'

The sound of teasing laughter from a nearby table stopped the Doctor from looking too much into that statement. They both looked over and noticed that a bunch of rich wankers (as Rose had called them under breath) were laughing at couple on the next table. They weren’t even trying to hide the fact they were laughing at the pair who, as far as the Doctor could see, weren’t doing anything funny at all. Sure their clothes didn’t exactly fit in with the theme and they were eating a bit more than anybody else, but who hadn’t done that at some point in their life? 

The Doctor and Rose pulled up a chair each and joined the couple at their table. ‘Merry Christmas,’ said Rose.

The pair smiled and nodded their thanks. The woman looked over at the people who were still laughing, a hint of humiliation on her face.

‘What’s up with that lot?’ asked Rose. 

‘They told us it was fancy dress,’ said the woman. ‘Very funny, I'm sure.’ 

‘They're just picking on us because we haven't paid,’ said her partner. ‘We won our tickets in a competition.’ 

‘I had to name the five husbands of Joofie Crystalle in By the Light of the Asteroid,’ said the woman, proudly. ‘Did you ever watch By the Light of the Asteroid?’  
  
‘Is that the one with the twins?’ asked the Doctor as Rose shook her head. 

‘That's it. Oh, it's marvelous.’ 

‘But we're not good enough for that lot,’ said the man. ‘They think we should be in steerage.’ 

‘Well, can't have that, can we?’ said the Doctor and he subtly pointed his sonic screwdriver at the champagne bottle in front of the still snickering people. With a loud “pop”, the cork flew out of the bottle, spraying their no doubt expensive clothes with no doubt expensive champagne. 

Rose glanced over at them and bit her thumbnail to stop herself from laughing. 

‘Did you do that?’ asked the woman. 

‘Maybe,’ said the Doctor with a smile. 

The woman giggled. ‘We like you.’ 

‘We do,’ agreed the man. ‘I'm Morvin Van Hoff. This is my good woman, Foon.’ 

‘Hello,’ said the Doctor, shaking their hands. ‘I'm the Doctor and this is Rose.’ He fleetingly wondered if he should be introducing her as his girlfriend or his “good woman” but Rose hadn’t shown any indication that she wanted him to and he relaxed.

Foon was talking again and the Doctor brought his focus back to the conversation. ‘Have a buffalo wing,’ she said. ‘They must be enormous, these buffalo. So many wings.’ 

_Attention please. Shore leave tickets Red Six Seven now activated. Red Six Seven._  
  
The tannoy announcement distracted Foon and Morvin and they both looked up from their meal. ‘Red Six Seven. That's us,’ said Foon, getting out a red ticket. ‘Are you Red Six Seven?’

‘Might as well be,’ said the Doctor, already getting back into his old habits of jumping straight into an adventure. 

‘Come on, then,’ said Morvin as they all stood up. ‘We're going to Earth.’

And that was enough to make the Doctor falter. Earth was exactly the place he was trying to get away from, for a little while at least. But he had already told Morvin and Foon that they were going and they seemed to be his best bet at actually having a proper conversation about the Titanic (apart from Astrid, of course), he couldn’t back out now.

The Doctor and Rose followed Foon and Morvin across the room to where an older gentleman was holding up a sign and calling for Red Six Seven ticket holders.

A tug on his arm brought the Doctor to a halt and Foon and Morvin went on ahead. 

‘I think I’m gonna stay here,’ said Rose, still clutching the Doctor’s sleeve.

‘We don’t have to go,’ said the Doctor. ‘We can stay if you’re not feeling up to it.’

‘No, it’s all right; you go and see what you can find out from Foon and Morvin and whoever else is going down. I’ll ask about up here. You know, the domestic approach.’

He knew what she was doing; she was trying to act like everything was back to normal. But whether it was for his or her benefit, the Doctor wasn’t entirely sure. ‘I don’t like the idea of you being on your own up here,’ he said, truthfully. He was afraid to let her out of his sight, let alone a couple of hundred thousand miles away.

‘I’ll be fine,’ insisted Rose. ‘Nothing overly unusual has happened so far, maybe this is just a cruise ship with an unfortunate name.’

‘But-‘

The Doctor was interrupted by Astrid appearing in front of him, holding out a tray. ‘I got you those drinks,’ she said.

‘You should take Astrid,’ said Rose. She took the tray out of the waitress’s hands. ‘Give her a bit of shore leave.’

‘Sorry?’ asked Astrid, looking between the two.

And that was it. The Doctor couldn’t argue now, not when Astrid’s eyes had lightened up with hope at the mention of shore leave.

‘Oh, all right,’ he said, ‘but if anything - and I mean anything - happens, you go straight back to the TARDIS.’

Rose nodded. ‘Will do.’

‘Even if I’m not back.’

Rose faltered for a minute but she must have noticed the pleading look in the Doctor’s eyes because she sighed and agreed.

The man holding the sign called out for last takers and the Doctor gave Rose one more meaningful look (one he hoped meant “stay safe”) and then grabbed Astrid’s hand. ‘Come on,’ he said. ‘I’ve got you a treat.’ The Doctor led Astrid to the group ready to depart for Earth and showed the man the psychic paper. ‘Red Six Seven plus one.’ 

‘Quickly, sir, please,’ ushered the man, ‘and take two teleport bracelets if you would.’ 

‘I'll get the sack,’ whispered Astrid.

‘Brand new sky,’ the Doctor reminded her and she took the bracelet.

‘To repeat, I am Mister Copper, the ship’s historian,’ called the man who was no doubt their tour guide, ‘and I shall be taking you to old London town in the country of UK, ruled over by good King Wenceslas. Now, human beings worship the great god Santa, a creature with fearsome claws, and his wife Mary. And every Christmas Eve, the people of UK go to war with the country of Turkey. They then eat the Turkey people for Christmas dinner like savages.’ 

‘Excuse me,’ interrupted the Doctor. ‘Sorry, sorry, but, um, where did you get all this from?’ 

‘Well, I have a first class degree in Earthonomics,’ replied Mister Copper. ‘Now, stand by.’

The small spiky red alien that Rose had noticed earlier ran up to them, declaring himself part of their group. ‘And me! And me! Red Six Seven.’

Mister Copper told him to take a bracelet and the alien did so. 

‘Hold on, hold on,’ said the Doctor. He turned to the alien who didn’t seem to be bothered in the slightest about the chaos he was about to cause by going to Earth. ‘What was your name?’ 

‘Bannakaffalatta,’ replied the alien. Blimey, that was a mouthful. 

‘Okay, Bannakaffalatta. But it's Christmas Eve down there. Late night shopping, tons of people. He's like a talking conker. No offence, but you'll cause a riot because the streets are going to be packed with shoppers and parties and-’ Suddenly the ship was gone, replaced by a silent moonlit street. ‘Oh.’ 

The first thing the Doctor noticed was that the teleportation bracelets were a lot more easy going than Jack’s busted vortex manipulator. The second thing was that there didn’t seem to be a soul in sight. Where was everybody?

Mister Copper gave everyone a credit card for souvenirs and babbled off a bit of wildly inaccurate Earth history but the Doctor wasn’t paying attention. He was still looking around the deserted street. London without people, especially around Christmas, was just wrong.

Still, Astrid seemed to enjoy it.

‘It’s a different planet,’ she said, thrilled. ‘I'm standing on a different planet. There's concrete and shops. Alien shops. Real alien shops! Look, no stars in the sky.’ She pointed at the sky and the Doctor followed her gaze. She was right, he couldn’t see any stars, but that was probably due to light pollution. He couldn’t see the Titanic either, not that he would have been able to even on a clear day, but it still made him feel uneasy. Rose was up there on her own. What if something happened?

He shook himself out of it. There hadn’t really been anything to suggest danger other than a glitching robot and an ominous name. Rose would be fine. It was just that, after the year that they both had had, the Doctor was scared that he was going to lose her again.

‘Everything all right?’ asked Astrid, noticing the Doctor’s lack of enthusiasm.

He put on a smile. ‘Everything’s fine. Come on then, let's have a look.’

They walked for a little while until they finally saw signs of life – an older gentleman manning a newspaper stand. ‘Hello, there,’ said the Doctor approaching him. ‘Sorry, obvious question, but where's everybody gone?’ 

‘Oh ho, scared!’ replied the man. 

The Doctor nodded as if he understood. ‘Right. Yes… Scared of what?’

‘Where've you been living? London at Christmas? Not safe, is it?’ 

‘Why?’ 

‘Well, it's them, up above.’ The old man pointed to the sky. ‘Christmas before last we had that big bloody spaceship, everyone standing on a roof. And then last year, that Christmas Star electrocuting all over the place, draining the Thames.’

The Doctor remembered both events well. 

‘This place is amazing,’ said Astrid. 

‘And this year, Lord knows what,’ continued the newspaper stand proprietor. ‘So, everybody's scarpered. Gone to the country. All except me and Her Majesty.’ He puffed out his chest proudly and pointed to his small television set that was currently showing a news report confirming that the Queen was indeed remaining in London. ‘God bless her. We stand vigil.’

‘Well, between you and me, I think her Majesty's got it right,’ said the Doctor. ‘Far as I know, this year, nothing to worry about.’

Then the Doctor and Astrid disappeared.


	39. Voyage of the Damned Part Two

‘I was in mid-sentence,’ complained the Doctor, now back on the Titanic. 

‘Yes, I'm sorry about that,’ said Mister Copper. ‘A bit of a problem. If I could have your bracelets.’ 

‘What sort of problem,’ asked the Doctor at once, his eyes already darting around the room in search of Rose. 

A steward came to greet them as Mister Copper took their teleportation bracelets. ‘Apologies, ladies and gentlemen, and Bannakaffalatta. We seem to have suffered a slight power fluctuation. If you'd like to return to the festivities. And on behalf of Max Capricorn Cruiseliners, free drinks will be provided.’

Foon and Morvin thanked the man and went back to their table.

‘That was the best,’ whispered Astrid, then she too left, but the Doctor barely noticed. 

‘What sort of power fluctuation?’ he asked.

The steward was saved from answering the question that he no doubt didn't have an answer for by Rose appearing. ‘You all right?’ she asked the Doctor.

‘Yeah, you?’ he asked, breathing a sigh of relief.

‘Yeah, the lights just seemed to go on and off, that’s all.’

Now satisfied that each of them were safe, they left the steward and rejoined the festivities. ‘Anything strange happen while I was gone?’ the Doctor asked Rose, his hand back in hers where it belonged. ‘Other than the power fluctuation.’

‘Nope. Just a bunch of rich people getting drunk and enjoying a party. You?’

‘Nothing. Well, apart from the fact that the whole of London has decided that Christmas isn’t safe anymore. I only saw one person down there who wasn’t from the ship.’

‘Huh. Well, I suppose the last couple of Christmas’s haven’t exactly been quiet, have they?’

‘I suppose… but still.’

They had found themselves in front of the advertisement screen again. The Doctor glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one was watching and then used his sonic screwdriver to take the frame off so he could get to the wiring behind the screen.

‘What you doing?’ asked Rose, taking up his position of lookout while the Doctor fiddled with the wires and switches.

‘Hacking into the ship’s system… hopefully.’

He flicked a switch and the image on the screen switched from the video of Max Capricorn to a view of the ship’s status. A flashing warning told him that the shields were offline. And there was something on the radar, something travelling at speed. Something that was heading straight for them.

The Doctor ran over to the porthole and paled as he saw what it was. Three flaming meteorites.

‘Oh my God,’ whispered Rose. ‘Do you think the Captain knows?’ 

The Doctor ran back to the image of the ship’s radar and activated the communication link. ‘Is that the bridge?’ he asked. ‘I need to talk to the Captain. You've got a meteoroid storm coming in. West zero by north two.'

‘Who is this?’ came the voice of the Captain. At least, the Doctor hoped he was the Captain. He certainly sounded Captain-y.

‘Never mind that, your shields are down. Check your scanners, Captain. You've got meteoroids coming in and no shielding.’

‘You have no authorisation. You will clear the comms at once.’

Dammit! Why did no one ever listen to him?

‘Yeah? Just look starboard!’ 

Two stewards came up behind him. ‘Come with me, sir,’ said one, obviously trying to escort him out quietly.

‘You don’t understand!' he shouted at them as they started to discreetly pull him out of the room. 'You've got a rock storm heading for this ship and the shields are down.’

‘You’ve got to listen to him!’ begged Rose.

The Doctor managed to wrench himself out of his captors’ grip and ran to the stage. He grabbed the microphone off of the singer. 'Everyone, listen to me! This is an emergency! Get to the lifeb-’ The rest of his sentence was muffled by a Host putting a hand over his mouth.

The stewards caught up with him and took him from the Host. ‘Look out the windows!’ he shouted before they dragged him towards the door.

Rose rushed forward to help him but another steward grabbed her arm to hold her back. It wasn’t a violent action, but it still caused Rose to yelp in surprise.

‘Don’t touch her!’ yelled the Doctor but the steward continued to drag them away.

‘Check the shields,’ said Rose. ‘We’re telling the truth!’

‘Sir, I can vouch for them!’ said Astrid, running up to them, closely followed by Morvin, Foon and Bannakaffalatta. 

‘Look, steward, he's just had a bit too much to drink,’ said Morvin. 

They passed Mister Copper, who didn’t seem too interested that the stewards were dragging two people away while a group of others shouted at them. ‘Sir, something seems to have gone wrong. All the teleports have gone down.’  
  
‘Not now!’ said the steward, still struggling with the Doctor. 

And so Mister Copper joined their little mismatched group. 

They had now made there way to a corridor, far from the party and prying eyes. The Doctor and Rose were still trying to convince the stewards of the impending crisis, but they weren’t listening.

‘Oi! Steward!’ came a voice from behind them. It was the man who had bumped into Astrid earlier. ‘I'm telling you, the shields are down!’ 

‘Listen to him. Listen to him!’ pleaded the Doctor. He was not gong to die on the Titanic! _Any_ Titanic.

Suddenly, the ship shook as the meteorites hit. The stewards let go of the Doctor and Rose as everyone struggled to stay upright. The Doctor made his way to Rose and held her tight against him. He was not going to lose her now. Not like this.

Eventually, the ship stopped shaking and the people stopped screaming. The Doctor got to his feet and helped Rose up. She looked a little bit woozy but she seemed to be unharmed. ‘You all right?’ he asked.

‘Just about. You?’

‘I warned you about the suit,’ he said, trying not to show how worried he actually was about their current situation.

It worked. A small smile appeared on Rose’s face.

Slowly everyone got to their feet. Everyone except two of the stewards that had been escorting them. The Doctor knelt down to check their pulses. Nothing. He shook his head sadly at the one remaining steward.

The steward looked down at his comrades, and probably friends, before addressing the group. ‘Everyone. Ladies and gentlemen, Bannakaffalatta. I must apologise on behalf of Max Capricorn Cruiseliners. We seem to have had a small collision.’ 

‘Small?’ shouted Morvin. 

‘Do you know how much I paid for my ticket?’ complained the rich man whom the Doctor still did not know the name of.

‘Who cares about the ticket?’ said Rose, angrily. ‘We’re alive, that’s the main thing.’ 

Everyone started talking over each other, ignoring the steward’s pleas for calm. ‘Quiet!’ he shouted at last and the corridor fell silent. ‘Thank you. I'm sure Max Capricorn Cruiseliners will be able to reimburse you for any inconvenience, but first I would point out that, as this young lady has said,’ he nodded at Rose, ‘we're very much alive.’ 

The Doctor noticed Astrid leaning down next to Mr. Copper. He looked like he had hit his head during the collision. He gave Rose’s hand a squeeze before he walked over to see if he could help. 

‘She is, after all, a fine, sturdy ship,’ the steward continued. ‘If you could all stay here while I ascertain the exact nature of the situation.’ He walked over to a bulkhead door and turned the handle. 

‘No, don’t open it!’ shouted the Doctor but it was too late. The steward opened the door and, with a terrible scream, was sucked out into open space.

The Doctor grabbed hold of a piece of pipe on the wall as the suction threatened to take him too. He managed to look around and see that everyone else had also found a secure safe hold.

With immense effort, the Doctor retrieved his sonic screwdriver from his pocket and aimed it at the control panel. The message that had been saying _Vacuum Breach_ changed to _Oxygen Shield_ and the corridor was safe once more.

Well, safe for now at least. 

‘Everyone all right?’ asked the Doctor. ‘Rose?’ He ran over to where Rose was still holding on the wall, her knuckles white. 

At the touch of his hand on her shoulder she let go of the wall and nodded. ‘I’m fine,’ she said, not very convincingly. ‘Just a bit shaky.’

The Doctor looked around the room, calling everyone’s name. Thankfully everyone answered. He pointed to the one man that he didn’t know (and didn’t particularly like either). ‘You, what was your name?’

‘Rickston Slade.’ 

‘You all right?’ 

Slade nodded. ‘No thanks to that idiot.’ 

‘The steward just died,’ said Astrid, angrily. 

‘Then he's a dead idiot.’ 

‘All right, calm down,’ said the Doctor. They couldn’t afford to fall out now. They had to stick together if they ere going to find the other survivors and get to the TARDIS. ‘Just stay still, all of you. Hold on.’ 

He walked over to inspect the hole in the ship’s hull.

‘What happened?’ asked Astrid, joining him. ‘How come the shields were down?’ 

‘I don't think it was an accident,’ said the Doctor as they both looked out of the hole that was in the wall that used to be a door. Debris and bodies floated by.

Rose shakily walked over to join them. ‘But why would someone do this?’ she asked.

‘Dunno,’ said the Doctor. 

‘How many dead?’ asked Astrid. 

‘We're alive. Just focus on that.’ He looked down at her. ‘I will get you out of here, Astrid, I promise.’

Astrid still seemed scared and understandably shaken but nodded.

‘We have to find out if there are any more survivors,’ said Rose. ‘A ship this big, surely there are more than us left.’

The Doctor nodded and looked back out the window, trying not to count the bodies floating past. ‘We need to get back to reception, back to the…’ he spotted something else floating outside. ‘Oh.’ 

‘What is it? What's wrong?’ asked Astrid. 

He nodded out towards the blue box that was floating down to the planet below. ‘That's my ship over there.’

‘Not again,’ whispered Rose and the Doctor took her hand in his, reassuring her that this would not be like Krop Tor, when they had last lost the TARDIS like this. 

‘Where?’ asked Astrid, scanning the debris. She was clearly looking for something bigger. 

‘There,’ the Doctor pointed. ‘That box. That little blue box.’ 

‘That's a spaceship?’ 

‘Oi, don't knock it.’ 

‘It's a bit small.’ 

‘A bit distant. Trouble is, once she’s set adrift, she's programmed to lock onto the nearest centre of gravity, and that would be the Earth.’

The Doctor dropped Rose’s hand and ran over to the communication device on the wall. Maybe he could get through to the Captain. It took a couple of tries but eventually someone answered. Not the Captain, but someone at least.

‘Oh hello, sailor,’ said the Doctor in relief. ‘Good to hear you. What's the situation up there?’

‘We've got air,’ said the man. ‘The oxygen field is holding, but the Captain, he's dead. He did it. I watched while he took down the shields. There was nothing I could do. I tried. I did try.’ 

‘All right. Just stay calm,’ the Doctor soothed. The poor man sounded so young and scared. ‘Tell me your name. What's your name?’

‘Midshipman Frame.’

‘Nice to meet you, sir. What's the state of the engines?’

‘They're, er… Hold on.’ The Midshipman groaned in pain as he (what sounded like) moved over to another set of controls.

‘Have you been injured?’ asked the Doctor.

‘I'm all right,’ said Frame, obviously lying. There was a pause and then he cursed at what was no doubt bad news about the engines. ‘They're cycling down,’ he said.

Oh, that was very very not good.

‘That's a nuclear storm drive, yes?’ asked the Doctor. 

‘Yeah.’ 

‘The moment they're gone, we lose orbit.’

Rose walked over to him, a look of worry on her face. 

‘The planet,’ said Frame, voicing what they were all thinking.

‘Oh, yes. If we hit the planet, the nuclear storm explodes and wipes out life on Earth,’ said the Doctor.

The Doctor straightened up. It was time for action. ‘Midshipman, I need you to fire up the engine containment field and feed it back into the core.’

‘This is never going to work,’ said Frame but it sounded like he was doing it anyway. 

‘Trust me, it'll keep the engines going until I can get to the bridge.’

‘We're going to die,’ said Foon. The Doctor hadn’t realised that everyone else had been listening in on the conversation.  
  
‘Are you saying someone's done this on purpose?’ asked Mister Copper.

‘We are. We're going to die,’ repeated Foon. 

Once again, everyone started to talk over one and other, getting more and more panicked with every word.

‘Okay, okay. Shush, shush, shush, shush, shush,’ the Doctor held up his hands to try and calm them. It worked. Well, it stopped them from talking, at least. 

‘First things first,’ continued the Doctor once he had everyone’s full attention. ‘One: we are going to climb through this ship. B – no – Two: we're going to reach the bridge. Three - or C: we're going to save the Titanic. And, coming in a very low four, or D, or that little iv in brackets they use in footnotes: why. Right then, follow me.’ 

He made to walk down the corridor but turned around at the sound of Slade’s voice. ‘Hang on a minute. Who put you in charge and who the hell are you anyway?’ 

He walked back up to them. This was not the time to be wasting time on unimportant questions. ‘I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord. I'm from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. I'm nine hundred and three years old and I'm the man who's going to save your lives and all six billion people on the planet below. You got a problem with that?’

‘No,’ answered Slade, slightly lost for words. 

‘In that case, allons-y!’

\----

The Doctor slowly pushed open the door that lead to the stairwell, careful not to knock anything or anyone that might be behind it. Once he had it open enough for them to squeeze through, he poked his head around it. Still no sign of survivors. All that was in the stairwell was more debris. 

‘Careful,’ he warned as he led the way up the stairs. There was less room to avoid the sparks that were coming off the frayed wires than there had been in the corridor. ‘Follow me.’ 

‘Rather ironic, but this is very much in the spirit of Christmas,’ said Mister Copper. ‘It's a festival of violence. They say that human beings only survive depending on whether they've been good or bad. It's barbaric.’ 

The Doctor lifted another piece of metal out of the way and then turned to face the “historian”. 'Actually, that's not true. Christmas is a time of, of peace and thanksgiving and what am I on about? My Christmases are always like this.’

Rose chuckled but went on to explain what Christmas was suppose to be like to Mister Copper. She had just gotten to the bit about family when the Doctor spied something trapped behind some more metal. A Host. ‘We've got a Host,’ he said and Rose cut off her story and half-walked/half-crawled up the stairs to stand beside him. 

‘Can it help us?’ she asked. 

‘Strength of ten. If we can mend it, we can use it to fix the rubble.’ 

‘We can do robotics,’ said Morvin, indicating to himself and Foon. ‘Both of us.’  
  
‘We work on the milk market back on Sto. It's all robot staff,’ explained Foon.  
  
The Doctor smiled. It was about time they had some good news. ‘See if you can get it working.’ He led the rest of the group further up the stairs. ‘Let’s have a look.’ 

They didn’t get very far. ‘It's blocked,’ said Astrid and the Doctor sighed as he took in the massive amount of rubble in their way. 

‘So what do we do?’ he asked, more to himself than anyone. 

‘We shift it,’ said Astrid, determinedly. Oh, he liked her. 

He let himself smile again. ‘That's the attitude. Rickston, Mister Copper, and you, Bannakaffalatta-’ He paused, that name really was a mouthful. ‘Look, can I just call you Banna? It's going to save a lot of time.’ 

‘No. Bannakaffalatta,’ insisted the spiky red alien. 

‘All right then, Bannakaffalatta. There's a gap in the middle. See if you can get through.’ 

‘Easy. Good.’

Bannakaffalatta was halfway through the hole when the ship shook again. The debris surrounding them shifted alarmingly but thankfully held.

‘This whole thing could come crashing down any minute,’ said Slade. He had obviously designated himself as the pessimist of the group. 

‘Shut up, will ya?’ said Rose. ‘Bannakaffalatta made it through.’

‘Bannakaffalatta made it,' said Bannakaffalatta cheerfully from the other side of the rubble. 

‘I'm small enough,’ said Astrid, crawling towards the hole. ‘I can get through.’ 

‘Careful,’ warned the Doctor. 

‘I'm fine.’ 

‘Thing is, how are Mr. and Mrs. Fatso going to get through that gap?’ asked Slade. 

Rose looked like she wanted to slap him and the Doctor sent her a glance that told her that this was not the time. He turned to face Slade. ‘We make the gap bigger,’ he said angrily. ‘So start.’

At his command, they all started to carefully remove the debris.

After a minute, laughter from Foon and Morvin echoed up the stairwell. ‘What happened? Did they find a doughnut?’ asked Slade. 

‘Listen, you-’ began Rose but she was cut off by Astrid calling from the other side of the rubble.

‘I can clear it from this side,’ she said. ‘Just tell me if it starts moving.’

But she didn’t start moving anything, instead she seemed to be whispering something to Bannakaffalatta. The Doctor waited for a minute before his impatience got the better of him. ‘What's going on up there?’ he asked. 

‘I think Bannakaffalatta and I just got engaged,’ replied Astrid. 

Well, that was definitely not what he was expecting. 

‘Doctor, there’s another control panel,’ said Rose. ‘They’re everywhere.’

‘Good, we can get in touch with the Bridge, see how Midspipman Frame is getting on.’ He pressed a few buttons on the panel and called the bridge.

‘Almost done!’ shouted Morvin from below.

‘Good, good, good,’ said the Doctor as Frame answered the call. ‘Mister Frame, how’s things?’

‘Doctor, I got life signs all over the ship but they’re going out one by one,’ he said. Not the kind of news the Doctor was hoping for.

‘What is it? Are they losing air?’

‘No. One of them said it's the Host. It's something to do with the Host.’

‘It's working!’ shouted Morvin. 

Shit.

‘Turn it off!’ the Doctor shouted back at him just as the Host started up a chorus of ‘Kill, kill, kill.’ 

‘I can't, Doctor!’ said Foon and the Doctor ran down the stairs. The Host had Morvin’s neck in it’s hands.

Wasting no time, the Doctor got out his sonic screwdriver and tried to free him from the Host’s grasp. No luck. ‘Double deadlock!’ he growled. Abandoning the sonic, he grabbed hold of the Host’s hands with his own and pulled as hard as he could. Thankfully, the Host’s arms gave way and Morvin was freed.  
  
‘Quickly, go upstairs!’ shouted the Doctor. 

Foon and Morvin did not need telling twice. 

‘Information. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill,’ chanted the Host, advancing on them.

‘Rickston, get them through!’ shouted the Doctor as they ran up the stairs. 

‘No chance,’ said Slade and he pushed himself through the gap.

‘Coward,’ shouted Rose after him. 

‘I’ll never get through there,’ cried Foon. 

‘Yes, you can,’ said Mister Copper, reassuring her. ‘Let me go first.’ 

The Host took a swing for the Doctor but he dived (well, as much as one could in such a confined space) and it missed. ‘It's the Host, they've gone berserk,’ he told Frame once he reached the control panel. ‘Are you safe up there?’ 

The Doctor didn’t get a chance to find out, he had to keep movng. He could hear Foon up ahead. She was stuck.

‘You can do it,’ shouted Rose and the Doctor paled. He thought she was already on the other side.

He could hear the others trying to help from the other side. Well, all apart from Slade.

Foon made it through but the debris were creaking ominously. The Doctor could hear Mister Copper pleading with Slade to help him keep it up. A plea that was declined.

‘You next,’ the Doctor said to Rose. ‘Quickly.’

Rose crawled through with ease, although still not as fast as the Doctor would have liked. ‘I made it,’ she shouted from the other side.

The Doctor turned to Morvon, it was just the two of them left now. ‘Morvin, get through!’

The Host was closing in. ‘Kill. Kill. Kill.’

Morvin got half way through before he too got stuck. And they were running out of time.

The Doctor placed his hands on Morvin’s backside and tried to push him through the gap. ‘Mister van Hoff, I know we've only just met, but you'll have to excuse me.’

Finally, Morvin made it through to the other side, just as the Host reached them. Rose and Astrid called for the Doctor to get through too but there was something he needed to try first. He turned to the Host. ‘Information override! You will tell me the point of origin of your command structure!’ 

‘Information. Deck thirty one.’ 

‘Thank you,’ said the Doctor, not quite believing that it had worked. He dived through the hole and crawled through to the other side. ‘Let go!’ he said once he was clear. Mister Copper obliged and the rubble fell down, crushing the Host.

Once the dust settled, the Doctor barely had time to catch Rose as she flung herself at him. ‘That was too close,’ she said.

‘A little, yeah,’ admitted the Doctor, holding her tight.

He reluctantly let Rose go and the group set off for the bridge.

\----

They entered another room, somewhere near the restaurant, judging by the trolley of sandwiches.

‘Morvin, look. Food,’ said Foon. 

‘Oh great. Someone's happy,’ said Slade, dryly.  
  
‘Don't have any then,’ said Morvin and they headed over to the trolley.

The Doctor walked over to another control panel on a nearby wall. This seemed like a good time to check in with the bridge while everyone got their breath back. ‘Mister Frame, are you still there?’ he asked. 

‘Yes, sir, but I've got Host outside. I've sealed the door.’

At least he was still alive.

‘They've been programmed to kill. Why would anyone do that?’

‘That's not the only problem, Doctor,’ said Frame. ‘I had to use a maximum deadlock on the door, which means… no one can get in. I'm sealed off. Even if you can fix the Titanic, you can't get to the bridge.’

Well that was just great. Another thing to add to the list of problems. 

‘One problem at a time,’ he said to Frame. ‘What's on deck thirty one?’

‘Um, that's down below. It's nothing. It's just the Host storage deck. That's where we keep the robots.’

The Doctor looked at the scan of the ship that had appeared on his screen. ‘Well, what's that?’ he asked, pointing to a shaded out area. It was only a second before he realised that Frame couldn’t actually see him. ‘Do you see that panel? Black. It's registering nothing. No power, no heat, no light.’ 

‘I've never seen it before,’ said Frame. 

‘One hundred percent shielded. What's down there?’

‘I'll try intensifying the scanner.’

‘Let me know if you find anything. And keep those engines going.’

The Doctor switched of the comms and sat down. He looked over to where the group of survivors were sitting around the food trolley. They all seemed to have calmed down a bit now that they had something else to focus on. Even if it was only food. 

‘Saved you some,’ said Astrid, coming to sit by him. ‘You might be a Time King from Gaddabee but you need to eat.’ 

The Doctor chuckled. ‘Yeah, thanks.’ 

‘So, you look good for nine hundred and three.’ 

‘You should see me in the mornings.’  
  
‘Okay.'

Shit. Was she flirting? Wait a minute, was _he_ flirting? He was going to have to try and keep tabs on that unintentional habit. Humans did seem to fixate on it.

‘Oh, well… you see…’ He tried to explain himself but was saved by Mister Copper coming to stand next to him, closely followed by Rose.

‘Doctor, it must be well past midnight, Earth time,’ said Mister Copper. ‘Christmas Day.’

Rose sat down next to the Doctor and smiled up at him. ‘Merry Christmas,’ she said.

The Doctor wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer. ‘Merry Christmas,’ he said and kissed her forehead.

Astrid’s face fell a bit in disappointment but she quickly composed herself. ‘This Christmas thing, what's it all about?’ she asked. ‘Rose never got to explain it properly.’ 

‘Long story,’ said the Doctor. ‘I should know, I was there. I got the last room.’

‘You did not,’ laughed Rose, her head resting against his shoulder. 

‘But if the planet's waking up, can't we signal them?’ asked Mister Copper. ‘They could send up a rocket or something.’ 

‘They don't have spaceships.’ 

‘No, I read about it, they have shuffles. Space shuffles.’

Right, that was it. 

‘Mister Copper, this degree in Earthonomics, where's it from?’ asked the Doctor. 

Mister Copper shifted awkwardly. ‘Honestly?’ 

‘Just between us.’ 

‘Mrs. Golightly's Happy Travelling University and Dry Cleaners,’ he admitted. Didn’t sound very professional. 

‘You- you lied to the company to get the job?’ said Astrid. 

‘I wasted my life on Sto,’ said Mister Copper. ‘I was a travelling salesman, always on the road, and I reached retirement with nothing to show for it. Not even a home. And Earth sounded so exotic.’ 

‘I suppose it is, yeah,’ said the Doctor.

‘Hawaii’s quite nice,’ said Rose.

‘How come you know it so well?’ asked Astrid.

‘I was born there,’ said Rose.  
  
‘And a few years ago, I was sort of made, well, sort of homeless,’ said the Doctor, ‘and Rose and her family sort of took me in.’ He smiled down at his girlfriend. He could use that word now, girlfriend. He hadn’t used that term for a long time; he wondered how it would sound if he said it out loud. 

‘The thing is,’ said Mister Copper, bringing him out of his thoughts, ‘if we survive this, there'll be police and all sorts of investigations. Now the minimum penalty for space lane fraud is ten years in jail. I'm an old man. I won't survive ten years.’

A bang sounded from the far door and Rose jumped.

‘A Host!’ shouted the Doctor, grabbing her hand and pulling her to her feet. ‘Move! Come on!’

\----

The Doctor dragged Rose along as they headed for the next door. She was stumbling but she was still going. He let go of her hand so that he could open the door and she immediately leaned on Mister Copper, breathing heavily. She was still recovering, this was all too much for her right now. Dammit! Why didn’t he just leave her in the TARDIS?

He knew why, of course. Because she wouldn’t have stayed and she would have been furious with him. And after everything that they had just gone through, he couldn’t afford to have her upset with him. They may have agreed to put the last year behind them, but he had no doubts that Rose hadn’t forgotten about how he had lied about Jack.

The Doctor got the door open and led the way through but stopped when he saw what was on the other side. The room, that looked like it was the engine room at one point, was massive, but there was very little floor. About a metre ahead of him, there was a great big hole which took up pretty much all of the room. At the bottom of that hole, the open engines. There was only one way across, a narrow beam of debris that look a little more shaky than the Doctor was entirely comfortable with.

‘Is that the only way across?’ asked Slade, panic in his voice. 

‘At least there _is_ a way across,’ said Rose, still clutching Mister Copper’s shoulder.

‘The engines are open,’ gasped Astrid, looking down over the edge. 

‘Nuclear storm drive,’ said the Doctor. ‘As soon as it stops, the Titanic falls.’ 

‘But that thing, it'll never take our weight,’ said Morvin, pointing to their one and only chance of escaping the Hosts. 

‘You're going last, mate,’ said Slade and although the Doctor did not approve of Slade’s nasty tone, he couldn’t argue with his logic.

‘It's nitrofin metal,’ he said. ‘It's stronger than it looks.’ But would it be strong enough? 

‘All the same, Rickston's right,’ said Morvin. The Doctor couldn’t help but admire the man’s bravery. ‘Me and Foon should-’ Morvin stepped forward and with a terrible creak, the metal under his foot gave way and he plummeted down towards the open engine. 

‘Morvin!’ screamed Foon as Astrid held her back. 

‘I told you. I told you!’ said Slade, properly panicking now. 

‘Just shut up. Shut up!’ shouted Mister Copper. 

‘Bring him back!’ pleaded Foon. ‘Can't you bring him back? Bring him back, Doctor!’

The Doctor moved over to her and put his hands on her shoulders. ‘I can't. I'm sorry, I can't.’ 

‘You promised me.’ 

‘I know. I'm sorry, I'm sorry.’  
  
‘Doctor, I rather think that those things have got our scent,’ said Mister Copper, referring to the Hosts that were quickly catching up to them. They had to move. 

‘Right, Rose you go first,’ said the Doctor, reaching out for her but Slade batted his hand away and pushed past. 

‘I'm not waiting,’ he said, ignoring the Doctor’s glare. 

Still, there was no use starting a fight. There would time for that later… hopefully. ‘Take it slowly!’ he growled.

This ship shook and Slade stumbled but maintained his balance. But now he seemed frozen in place, staring down at the engines below in fear. ‘You're okay,’ said the Doctor. The sooner they got across, the better. ‘A step at a time. Come on, you can do it.’ 

He could hear the Hosts chanting now. 

‘They're getting nearer,’ said Mister Copper. 

He had no choice, he had to seal them in, or, more accurately, seal the Hosts out. He got out his screwdriver and pointed it at the door and it closed with a thud. 

‘You're leaving us trapped, wouldn't you say?’ said Mister Copper, worriedly. 

‘Never say trapped, just inconveniently circumstanced.’

Mister Copper groaned but the Doctor ignored it, instead, turning back to survey the room. Slade had started moving again and was now over halfway across. Foon was still staring down at the engines below, muttering to Astrid. 

A shout of celebration from Slade caused the Doctor to look back up, he had made it to the other side.

‘Rose you next, then Bannakaffalatta.’

Rose took a step towards the narrow beam and then paused. For a minute the Doctor was worried she was going to faint and held his hands out to catch her but she waved him off. ‘I’ll be fine, but I think I’d better crawl it.’ She bent down on all fours and began to move. ‘Centre of gravity and all that.’

When Rose was halfway across the room, the Doctor indicated for Bannakaffalatta to start making his way across.

‘Bannakaffalatta small,’ said the alien, proudly. 

‘Slowly!’ the Doctor warned. He didn’t want anyone getting ahead of themselves. One wrong move and the whole thing could give way.

A moment later, the banging started. The Hosts were trying to get through the door. 

‘They've found us,’ said Mister Copper, stating the obvious. 

‘Astrid, get across right now,’ said the Doctor, praying that the metal was indeed stronger than it looked. 

‘What about you?’ 

‘Just do it. Go on. Mister Copper, we can't wait.’ Mister Copper tried to argue but the Doctor silenced him and ushered him towards the walkway. 

Once Mister Copper had started his journey, the Doctor knelt down next to Foon. ‘Foon, you've got to get across right now.’ 

‘What for?’ cried Foon. ‘What am I going to do without him?’ 

‘Doctor? The door's locked!’ shouted Slade from the other side of the room but the Doctor ignored him.

‘Just think. What would he want, eh?’ he said to Foon. 

‘He don't want nothing. He's dead,’ she snapped back. 

‘Doctor, I can't open the door!’ shouted Slade. ‘We need the whirling key thing of yours.’ 

‘I can't leave her!’ the Doctor shouted back at him. 

‘She'll get us all killed if we can't get out!’

There was that cruel logic again. The Doctor looked at the others on the beam, Rose was three quarters of the way across, Bannakaffalatta right behind her. The others were still only just reaching halfway. 

He looked back down at Foon. ‘Mrs. van Hoff, I am coming back for you,’ he vowed. 

Foon nodded and the Doctor made his way onto the beam. 

‘Too many people!’ squeaked Bannakaffalatta as the metal creaked ominously.

‘Oi! Don't get spiky with me,’ said the Doctor. ‘Keep going.’ 

‘It's going to fall,’ said Astrid as she reached the hallway point, which also happened to be the weakest. 

‘It's just settling,’ said the Doctor, not quite sure if he was lying or not. ‘Keep going.’ 

Then the banging stopped, making the room eerily quiet.

Everyone paused and looked at each other. ‘Why have they stopped?’ asked Rose, still on all fours. 

‘Gone away?’ asked Bannakaffalatta. 

‘Why would they give up?’ asked the Doctor. 

‘Never mind that,’ said Slade, surprisingly becoming the voice of reason. ‘Keep coming.’ 

‘Where have they gone? Where are the Hosts?’ asked the Doctor, looking back at the door. 

‘I'm afraid we've forgotten the traditions of Christmas,’ said Mister Copper, pointing upwards. The Doctor followed his gaze and inwardly cursed.

The Hosts were floating down towards them. 

‘Angels have wings!’


	40. Voyage of the Damned Part Three

‘Information. Kill,’ said one of the flying Hosts and they all removed their haloes from their heads. 

And that was the point where Rose decided that maybe Slade had the right idea – keep moving. Her arms and legs felt like they would give way at any moment but she somehow managed to get to the other side.

Not bothering to even try and stand up yet, she crawled to where Slade was waiting at the door. ‘Can you open it?’ he asked in a panic. Rose shook her head. 

She heard the Doctor yell at everyone to arm themselves and she looked around for an adequate weapon. There was a small bit of metal in her reach but it didn’t look like it would be very effective against a Host. Still, better than nothing. She reached over and grabbed it, holding it like a baseball bat, ready to whack anything that approached her. 

The others had armed themselves with similar objects and were now swatting the Host’s flying haloes out of the way. The sound of metal on metal filled the room, combined with various cries of pain coming from those still on the narrow walkway. Rose daren’t look. She didn’t think she could bear seeing another person falling into the fiery pit below. Instead she kept her eyes focused on the Hosts above.

‘Bannakaffalatta stop!’ shouted Bannakaffalatta and Rose risked a look towards the walkway. Thankfully everyone was still standing. ‘Bannakaffalatta proud,’ shouted the small alien. ‘Bannakaffalatta cyborg!’ He ripped open his shirt and an energy pulse erupted from his chest. If Rose hadn’t already been on the floor, she no doubt would have been after that. Luckily the others on the beam were stronger.

The same could not be said for the Hosts. They stopped chanting and sparked with electricity as they fell into the open engines below.

All but one. 

The one remaining Host landed at the start of the walkway, just behind the Doctor, but it didn’t appear to be moving.

‘Electromagnetic pulse took out the robotics,’ said the Doctor. ‘Oh, Bannakaffalatta, that was brilliant!’

Bannakaffalatta smiled weakly and then collapsed. 

‘He's used all his power,’ said Astrid, crawling towards him. 

She started whispering something to him. Rose couldn’t hear what they were saying but, judging by the sad smiles on both of their faces, Astrid was giving Bannakaffalatta the last bit of comfort he would ever receive. Astrid’s smile faded and Rose knew that it was over.

Astrid reached to button up Bannakaffalatta’s shirt but Mister Copper, who had made his way over to them, stopped her and took a device from the cyborg’s chest. ‘Leave him alone!’ snapped Astrid through her tears. 

‘It's the EMP transmitter,’ he explained. ‘He'd want us to use it. I used to sell these things. They'd always give me a bed for the night in the cyborg caravans. They're good people. But if we can recharge it, we can use it as a weapon against the rest of the Host. Bannakaffalatta might have saved us all.’ 

‘Do you think?’ said Slade. ‘Try telling him that.’

Rose looked to where Slade was pointing and gasped. The Host that had fallen on the walkway had reactivated and was reaching for it’s halo.

‘Information. Reboot.’ 

‘Move!’ cried Rose as she watched helplessly from the sidelines.

‘Use the EMP!’ shouted Slade. 

‘It's dead. It's dead,’ said Mister Copper. 

‘It’s got to have emergency,’ cried Astrid, taking a look for herself.

‘No, no, no. Hold on,’ said the Doctor to the now standing (and advancing) Host. ‘Override loophole. Security protocol ten. Six six six. Um, twenty one, four, five, six, seven, eight. I don't know, forty two? One!’ 

Amazingly, the Host stopped. ‘Information. State request.’ 

The Doctor was just as shocked as anyone at his luck, it seemed. ‘Good. Right. You've been ordered to kill the survivors, but why?’ he asked the Host. 

‘Information. No witnesses.’ 

‘But this ship's going to fall on the Earth and kill everyone. The human race have nothing to do with the Titanic, so that contravenes your orders, yes?’ 

‘Information. Incorrect.’ 

‘But why do you want to destroy the Earth?’ 

‘Information. It is the plan.’ 

‘What plan?’ 

‘Information. Protocol grants you only three questions. These three questions have been used.’

Dammit! 

‘Well, you could have warned me,’ said the Doctor. 

‘Information. Now you will die.’

Rose shouted the Doctor’s name again as the Host raised its halo, preparing to strike.

Suddenly, Foon appeared. She threw a rope around the Host’s body, effectively lassoing it, and Rose gasped as she realised what she was about to do. 

‘You're coming with me.’

‘Foon! No!’ shouted Rose but to no avail. Foon leapt from the walkway, her hands gripping the rope tightly. The Doctor shouted as Foon took the Host with her to join her husband.

Rose couldn’t properly see the Doctor’s face (partly because of distance, and partly because of her tears) but she could picture it in her mind as he growled out his declaration of no more.

\----

‘Right. Get yourself up to Reception One,’ said the Doctor once they had put a bit of distance between them and the engine room. ‘Once you're there, Mister Copper, you've got staff access to the computer. Try to find a way of transmitting an SOS. Astrid, you're in charge of this.’ He gave her the EMP device. ‘Once it's powered up, it'll take out a Host within fifty yards but then it needs sixty seconds to recharge. Got it?’ Astrid nodded and the Doctor turned to Rose and held out the sonic screwdriver. ‘Take this,’ he said, a little to quickly. ‘You know which settings to use for the doors.’

Rose couldn’t believe this. He was leaving them! 

Her shock must have shown on her face because the Doctor used his free hand to take hers and leaned in closer. ‘I’m sorry but I’ve got to end this,’ he said.

After a moment, Rose nodded and took the sonic from his hand. He was right, someone had to stop the Host’s and start the engines back up properly. 

The Doctor let go of her hand and fetched a first aid kit from a nearby shelf. ‘Someone take this,’ he said and Mister Copper obliged. ‘You may need it.’ Rose didn’t miss the worried glance he shot her. Not without reason, she supposed. She hadn’t been able to stand on her own for more than a few seconds in quite some time now. She just felt so drained. In body and mind.

The Doctor turned to Astrid. ‘Astrid, where's the power points?’ 

‘Under the comms,’ she said and they moved over to them to charge the EMP. 

‘See, when it's ready, that blue light comes on there,’ said the Doctor pointing to the device. 

‘You're talking as if you're not coming with us,’ said Astrid. 

‘There's something down on deck thirty one. I'm going to find out what it is.’ 

‘What if you meet a Host?’ asked Astrid, voicing Rose’s worries. 

‘Well, then I'll just have some fun.’ 

‘Sounds like you do this kind of thing all the time.’ 

‘Not by choice,’ said the Doctor. 

There was bang and the ship shook.

‘Mister Frame, you still with us?’ asked the Doctor, standing up to use the comms device.

‘It's the engines, sir,’ came the voice of the Midshipman. ‘Final phase. There's nothing more I can do. We've got only eight minutes left.’

‘Don't worry, I'll get there.’

‘But the bridge is sealed off.’

‘Yeah, yeah, working on it. I'll get there, Mister Frame, somehow.’ He turned to Astrid. ‘All charged up?’ he asked and Astrid nodded. ‘Right everyone look out for each other, you got that?’ He gave Slade a pointed look. 

He moved over to where Rose was still leaning against the wall. ‘I’m coming back, I promise,’ he said, giving her a quick hug.

He started to walk away but then stopped and turned back to her. Rose couldn’t quite read his expression, but then again, she didn’t have much time to do so before he leaned in and kissed her. 

The kiss was short and sweet and Rose hoped to God that it wasn’t their last one.

‘Be safe,’ said the Doctor after he had pulled back, and, this time, he did walk away.

‘You too,’ she whispered too late.

Once the Doctor was out of sight she pushed herself up off the wall. ‘Right, come on,’ she said the others. ‘Let’s get to reception.’

\----

It was a surprisingly quick trip to Reception, mainly due to Mister Copper helping her along and Astrid taking out the Hosts with the EMP.

‘Rickston, seal the doors, make the room secure,’ said Astrid and Slade did as he was told.

‘We need to send that SOS call,’ said Rose, gasping slightly. Was the air getting sucked out of the room somehow? She could hardly breathe. She looked at the others who were all breathing normally. Just her, then.

‘I’ll do it,’ said Astrid. ‘Mister Copper, keep an eye on the Hosts.’ 

Astrid went over to the computer and growled in frustration at its apparent lack of power but Rose was looking at what was next to the computer. The teleportation bracelets.

‘Get me the bridge on the comms,’ she told Astrid.

Astrid looked confused as to why but did as she was asked. She nodded at Rose to talk.

‘Midshipman Frame, are you there?’ she asked. 

‘Who is this?’ asked Frame.

‘My name’s Rose, I was with the Doctor. Listen, can you get power to the teleport system?’ 

‘No way. I'm using everything I got to keep the engines going.’

Rose tried not to growl in frustration. ‘It's just one trip,’ she pleaded. ‘I need to get to deck thirty one.’

‘You can’t be serious?’ said Astrid. ‘You can barely walk.’

‘And I'm telling you, no,’ added Frame.

‘Mister Frame, I have to help the Doctor. He's gone down there on his own, and I can't just leave him. He might need me. Please! He’s done everything he can to save us. Let me do something to save him.’ 

There was a pause and then a sigh of defeat from Frame. ‘Giving you power,’ he said.

‘Thank you,’ said Rose and she moved towards the teleportation bracelets.

She was only a step or two away when her legs gave in and she fell to the floor.

‘You can’t do this, Rose,’ said Astrid, kneeling down to help her.

‘I’ve got to,’ said Rose. ‘He’d do the same for me. I have to help.’ 

Her eyelids felt so heavy. She fought against the urge to let them fall shut.

‘You’re barely conscious, you can’t help anyone.’ Astrid’s tone was not cruel, but it was firm. 

But Rose could be stubborn when she wanted to be. ‘He can’t do it alone,’ she said, a tear rolling down her cheek.

She reached up to the teleportation bracelets but fell back towards the floor instead.

‘I’ll keep him safe,’ she heard Astrid whisper before the darkness overtook her. 

\----

The Doctor was angry. Anger seemed to be his default mood lately.

He had tricked the Hosts into not killing him, instead insisting that he needed to be taken to see someone of authority. That someone had turned out to be none other than Max Capricorn, owner of Capricorn Cruiseliners, cyborg, mass murderer.

Well, technically he didn’t own the company anymore. The board had thrown him out. Poor old Max hadn’t liked that and had aptly decided that having his own ship crash into a heavily populated planet was the right way of dealing with it. If the Titanic wiped out the Earth, the board that had voted him out would then be sent to prison, and Max could hide away with all his money in peace. All he had to do was stay safely locked away in the impact chamber (the blacked out area on the ship’s scanner) and wait for his men to pick him up from the ruins of the planet he was about to destroy.

‘So that's the plan,’ said the Doctor in disgust. ‘A retirement plan. Two thousand people on this ship, six billion underneath us, all of them slaughtered, and why? Because Max Capricorn is a loser.’

‘I never lose,’ hissed Max, menacingly. 

‘You can't even sink the Titanic!’ 

A sinister smile appeared on Capricorn’s face (the only human part of him left). ‘Oh, but I can, Doctor,’ he said. ‘I can cancel the engines from here.’

Max activated something on his life support system (a chunky looking box with wheels at the bottom and a clear square box at the top to cover his head) and an alarm sounded. A couple of seconds later the ship started to shake.

_Engines closing. Engines closing. Engines closing._

‘You can't do this!’ shouted the Doctor. He made a lunge for Max but the Hosts grabbed his arms to hold him back. 

‘Not so clever now, Doctor,’ taunted Max. ‘A shame we couldn't work together. You're rather good. All that banter yet not a word wasted. Time for me to retire. The Titanic is falling. The sky will burn. Let the Christmas inferno commence. Oh. Oh, Host. Kill him.’

One of the Hosts removed its halo and Max was just about to return to his impact chamber when a voice shouted his name from across the room, causing everybody to stop. The Doctor, still being firmly held by the Hosts, turned his head to see Astrid sitting behind the steering wheel of a forklift. ‘I resign,’ she said and she put the forklift into gear and hit the accelerator. 

‘Astrid, don't!’ yelled the Doctor as he realised her intention. She was going to push Max Capricorn right off of deck thirty one and into the open engines below. 

Astrid either couldn’t hear him, or just ignored him as she battled against Capricorn’s own heavy-duty vehicle.

One of the Hosts, sensing its master was in danger, removed its halo and threw it at Astrid. The metal bars of the forklift shielded her from the attack but the same could not be said for the brake lines. The Doctor yelled out to warn her and she turned to look at him as she realised her predicament. 

The Doctor struggled harder against his captors but it was no use, he couldn’t help her, and they were running out of time. The ship would fall any minute. The look in Astrid’s eyes told him that she knew that too. The Doctor shook his head at her, mouthing the word “no”, but all he got in return was an apologetic look. 

Astrid turned back to face Max and with angry determination, she used the forklift to lift him up off of the ground. Now with nothing pushing her back, she easily drove them both forward, crashing through the guardrail, and over the ledge.

‘Astrid!’ shouted the Doctor and the Host released him. He ran over to the ledge and watched in horror as Astrid Peth fell into the engine below.

_Titanic falling. Voyage terminated. Voyage terminated._

The Doctor stood up and walked away from the ledge. No one else was going to die today!

\----

Rose slowly regained consciousness and felt a warm arm around her shoulder and the rise and fall of someone breathing beneath against her head. Someone was holding her. For a fleeting moment she thought it was the Doctor, but the sound of his heartbeat was all wrong. Then she noticed that the room was shaking and she remembered where she was. 

She quickly opened her eyes and looked up to see that it was in fact Mister Copper that was holding her steady as everything shook around them. He looked down at her movement and she saw the fear and pity n his eyes. ‘Oh, you poor girl,’ he said. ‘I was hoping you wouldn’t wake for this. The engines have stopped. We’re going down.’

The ship was crashing? But the Doctor was supposed to be stopping it? What happened to him?

She looked around the room, searching for him even though she knew he wasn’t there. The only other person in the room was Slade, who was sitting on the other side of her, fear written all over his face.

Where was Astrid?

She was just about to ask when the shaking lessened and Rose felt the unmistakable feeling of the ship leveling out.

The Doctor! He had done it!

_Engines active. Engines active._

‘Yes. Oh, yes,’ cried Slade and Mister Copper laughed in celebration. Rose closed her eyes, letting a few tears of relief fall. In all the joy and relief of being alive, one of the men kissed her on the forehead. She thought it might have been Slade. Ugh!

The celebrations lasted until the Doctor ran into the room. Rose recognized the look on his face straight away. Desperate hope.

‘Rose, you all right,’ he asked quickly, his eyes darting over her body, checking for injuries. 

‘Been better,’ she said from her position on the floor. 

Satisfied that she was unharmed, he nodded once and held out his hand. ‘Sonic,’ he said.

Rose threw it to him and unsteadily got to her feet. ‘Doctor, where’s Astrid?’ she asked. She vaguely remembered her promising to keep him safe.

‘She fell but I can save her.’ He ran over to the teleportation device. ‘Mister Copper, the teleports, have they got emergency settings?’ 

‘I don't know. They should have.’ 

‘What's the emergency code?’

‘Um, let me see,’ said Mister Copper and he and the Doctor started to fiddle with the machine. 

A man whom Rose didn’t recognize stumbled into the room. He was young but his uniform suggested a position of rank aboard the ship. And the way he clutched his stomach suggested that he had been badly injured. This must have been Midshipman Frame.

‘What the hell are you doing?’ Frame asked the Doctor. 

‘We can bring her back,’ said the Doctor, sonicking the wires of the machine.

‘But you said she fell,’ said Rose, confused. She was still feeling exhausted, maybe she had missed some vital piece of information, because, at the moment, nothing was making any sense.

‘If a passenger has an accident on shore leave and they're still wearing their teleport, their molecules are automatically suspended and held in stasis,’ explained Mister Copper. ‘So if we can just trigger the shift.’ 

‘There!’ said the Doctor in triumph and Astrid appeared before them.

But it wasn’t really Astrid; it was just a blue, starry image of her. An echo.

‘I'm falling,’ she said. 

‘Only halfway there,’ said the Doctor and he turned back to the wires. ‘Come on.’ 

‘I keep falling.’ 

‘Feed back the molecule grid. Boost it with the restoration matrix. No, no, no, no, no! Need more phase containment.’ Despite sparks and smoke that was coming from the machine, the Doctor continued to fiddle with it, getting more desperate by the second. He didn’t want to admit defeat. 

Rose understood that, she didn’t want to admit that Astrid was gone either, they had already lost far too many people today, but sheer will wouldn’t bring them back – any of them.

Rose walked over to the Doctor and put her hand on his shoulder. ‘Doctor, you’ve done everything you can,’ she said softly. ‘I’m sorry, but she’s gone.’

‘There's not enough power left,’ said Mister Copper in the same gentle tone. ‘The system was too badly damaged. She's just atoms, Doctor. An echo with the ghost of consciousness. She's stardust.’

The Doctor stilled and turned to look Rose in the eyes. She could see that he knew they were right. With one last kick of the teleportation device and a deep sigh, the Doctor turned the sonic off and walked up to the image of Astrid. 

‘Astrid Peth, citizen of Sto,’ he said. ‘The woman who looked at the stars and dreamt of travelling. Now you can travel forever.’ He pointed his sonic screwdriver at the window behind Astrid and it opened. Astrid’s image slowly faded into wisps of blue lights. 

‘You're not falling, Astrid, you're flying,’ said the Doctor as the blue lights floated through the open window and out towards the stars.

\----

A little while later, they were all scattered around the reception room. Mister Copper was at the bar having a much needed drink, Slade was sitting down, silently listening to Midshipman Frame explain how he had managed to get the engines stabilized and had sent an SOS signal, so there now little else to do apart from wait. The Doctor and Rose stood against the bar, each lost in thought.

Rose looked up at the Doctor uncertainly; he had barely said anything since saying goodbye to Astrid.

‘I think you’re right about the suit,’ she said, breaking the silence. It had meant be a joke to try and lighten the mood but her voice held no humour in it. Too many people had died today. She looked back towards the ground, defeated.

‘Mister Copper told me what happened,’ said the Doctor and Rose looked back up at him. ‘You passed out.’

‘Just for a little bit,’ admitted Rose. 

‘You’re still drained from being under the Master’s control. I should’ve sent you straight back to the TARDIS.’

‘No,’ said Rose, shaking her head. ‘I wouldn’t have been able to just sit there and rest while you were out here investigating.’

‘Then we should have just left.’

‘And what would have happened to them then?’ asked Rose, indicating Frame, Slade, and Mister Copper. ‘And what about the Earth? Doctor, you saved the planet. Again. I know we lost people-’

‘You were almost one of them,’ interrupted the Doctor but Rose carried on.

‘But you saved so many more. And just because some insane bastard got inside my head for a while, doesn’t mean we stop doing that.’

The Doctor looked down at her and nodded. Rose took his hand and squeezed it reassuringly.

There was an awkward silence for a moment before Rose voiced the question she'd been wanting to ask since the ship stopped crashing. ‘Doctor, how do we get back to the TARDIS?’

He was about to answer when Mister Copper walked up to them. ‘They'll want to talk to all of us, I suppose,’ he said.

‘Who will?’ asked Rose.

‘The authorities, when they get here. I think one or two inconvenient truths might come to light. Still, it's my own fault, and ten years in jail is better than dying.’  
  
Rose looked at the little old man sadly. He was so sweet and had been through so much, it didn’t seem right that he should spend his last few years in jail.

Slade walked up to them and joined their little group. ‘Doctor, I never said thank you,’ he said, giving the Doctor a hug. Rose felt a little guilty at how surprised she was at this. She hadn’t thought Slade would have even considered thanking anybody but himself. It was nice to be proven wrong. 

‘The funny thing is,’ continued Slade. ‘I said Max Capricorn was falling apart. Just before the crash, I sold all my shares, transferred them to his rivals. It's made me rich. What do you think of that?’

Then again, maybe she wasn’t so wrong after all.

Slade’s phone started ringing and he walked away so he could talk to whoever it was in private but Rose was sure she heard the words "shares" and "triple bonded".

‘Of all the people to survive, he's not the one you would have chosen, is he?’ said Mister Copper as the three of them watched Slade talk on his phone. ‘But if you could choose, Doctor, if you decide who lives and who dies, that would make you a monster.’ 

The Doctor was silent for a moment before he reached behind him and took three teleportation bracelets. He handed one to Rose.

‘Is there enough power?’ asked Rose, daring to hope that this could be their way back to the TARDIS. 

‘For the three of us, there should be.’

‘Three?’ asked Mister Copper and the Doctor handed him the other bracelet.

‘Mister Copper, I think you deserve this.’

Mister Copper took the bracelet and put it on his wrist. At least this was one small victory, thought Rose. They could give Mister Copper a chance at another life. 

The three of them spared a glance at Frame before they activated the teleport. The Midshipman saluted them and the Doctor pressed the button that would send them back to Earth.

\----

The Doctor, Rose, and Mister Copper walked through the snow to where the TARDIS was standing. During the walk there, Rose and the Doctor had been trying to help Mister Copper fine-tune his Earth history knowledge. 

‘So, Great Britain is part of Europey, and just across the British Channel, you've got Great France and Great Germany,’ said Mister Copper. 

‘No, no, it's just France and Germany,’ corrected the Doctor. ‘Only Britain is Great.’ 

‘Oh, and they're all at war with the continent of Ham Erica.’ 

‘No. Well, not yet…Um, could argue that one.’

A few steps later and they were within arms reach of the TARDIS. ‘She’s okay,’ said Rose in relief. ‘I thought she might’ve got a bit damaged on re-entry or something.’

‘Of course, she’s okay,’ said the Doctor, a little defensively. ‘Survive anything, she could.’

‘Didn’t seem that way when we had the front end of a ship sticking through the console room wall.’

‘The shields were down. I put them back up again.’

Rose patted the blue wood affectionately. ‘Sorry, I doubted you, girl,’ she said to the ship. God, she was getting as bad as the Doctor. 

‘You know, between you and me, I don't even think this snow is real,’ said Mister Copper and they all looked up at the sky. ‘I think it's the ballast from the Titanic's salvage entering the atmosphere.’

‘Sounds familiar,’ said Rose. 

‘Yeah,’ agreed the Doctor with a far-off look in his eye. ‘One of these days it might snow for real.’ 

‘So, I suppose you'll be off,’ said Mister Copper and Rose looked back down at him.

‘And what about you?’ she asked. ‘Brand new life, what are you going to do with it?’

Mister Copper thought for a moment before an added sadness passed over his features. ‘I don’t know,’ he said.

‘Give me that credit card,’ said the Doctor, holding out his hand.  
  
‘It's just petty cash,’ said Mister Copper, handing him the card. ‘Spending money. It's all done by computer. I didn't really know the currency, so I thought a million might cover it.’ 

Rose’s jaw dropped. ‘A million?’ she asked. 

‘Pounds?’ added the Doctor in much the same tone of surprise. 

‘Enough for trinkets?’ asked Mister Cooper in genuine curiosity. He really didn’t know how much money he now had. 

‘Mister Copper, a million pounds is worth fifty million credits,’ said the Doctor. 

‘How much?’ 

‘Fifty million and fifty six.’

Rose let herself smile as she saw the realization hit the sweet old man. ‘I've got money,’ he said, still a little bit disbelievingly. 

‘Yes, you have,’ said the Doctor, handing him back the credit card.

‘Oh, my word. Oh, my Vot! Oh, my goodness me. Yee ha!’ Mister Copper did a little happy jig.

‘Just you be careful, though,’ said the Doctor.

‘Oh I will. I will.’ 

‘No interfering. I don't want any trouble. Just, just have a nice life.’

‘So, Mister Copper,’ said Rose. ‘Brand new life, what are you going to do with it?’ she asked again.

‘I can have a house. A proper house, with a garden, and a door, and…’ Mister Copper trailed off, unable to continue, as he no doubt thought of all the things he had ever dreamed of doing or owning. ‘Oh, Doctor, I will make you proud.’

He rushed forward and hugged them both. ‘And I can have a kitchen with chairs,’ he said as he pulled away, ‘and windows, and plates, and…’ He started walking away, still happily listing the most ordinary household objects that he had never been able to have before.

‘Where are you going?’ Rose called out to him. 

‘Well, I've no idea,’ Mister Copper called back. 

‘Nor us,’ said the Doctor. 

Mister Copper stopped and turned back to them. ‘I won't forget her,’ he said in a more solemn tone and then he turned and carried on walking towards his new life. Rose hoped he would do something good with it. He deserved it. 

Rose looked up at the night sky and watched as a string of blue lights swirled by. Astrid.

‘There she goes,’ said Rose and the Doctor looked up as well. ‘Off to see the universe.’

The blue lights vanished and Rose looked to the Doctor. He had that guilty look in his eyes again. ‘It’s not your fault,’ she said.

‘Feels like it is,’ he replied and Rose got the feeling that he wasn’t just talking about Astrid.

After a moment of silence, he tore his gaze from the sky and turned to unlock the TARDIS. ‘Come on, it’s time we got some rest. No more adventures for a little while.’

‘Yeah, right,’ scoffed Rose. ‘How long do you think that’s gonna last?’

A ghost of a smile appeared on the Doctor’s face. ‘Oh, a few days at least, surely,’ he said as he held the door open for her. ‘Maybe even a week.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooo I made it through the first fic. Now onto the next one. If my calculations are correct, this fic was the longest so, now that its over, things will hopefully start to move along a bit quicker.
> 
> Thank you everyone for reading and I hope you all enjoyed it.


End file.
